Meta is up 5% in after-hours trading after crushing earnings again, delivering $42.3 billion in revenue in the first quarter and earnings per share of $6.43, well above the FactSet consensus estimate of $41.3 billion in revenue and EPS of $5.23.
After competitor Snap posted dismal earnings yesterday, investors earlier in the day worried that macro pressures from President Trump’s tariffs might indirectly affect advertising at Meta. That so far doesn’t appear to be the case. Ad revenue was up 16% year over year to $41.4 billion. On the company’s earnings call today, investors will be looking for how, if at all, tariffs could affect the company’s ad revenue in the future.
While the company’s spending on property and equipment was slightly lower than analysts had expected, the company has raised its full-year capex estimate to $64 billion to $72 billion, from its prior outlook of $60 billion to $65 billion. That suggests economic headwinds haven’t lessened the company’s AI plans, although it’s possible tariffs have made things more expensive.
“This updated outlook reflects additional data center investments to support our artificial intelligence efforts as well as an increase in the expected cost of infrastructure hardware,” CFO Susan Li said in the earnings statement.
