Instagram and Facebook parent posted results Wednesday for the first quarter that exceeded expectations, showing growth in earnings, but the social media giant also increased its forecasted capital expenditures for the year.
The company earned $26.77 billion, or $10.44 per share, in the January-March period, up about 61% from $16.64 billion, or $6.43 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 33% from last year to $56.31 billion. Meta was expected to earn $6.67 per share on revenue of $55.6 billion, per the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet Research.
鈥淲e had a milestone quarter with strong momentum across our apps and the release of our first model from Meta Superintelligence Labs,鈥� said in a statement. 鈥淲e鈥檙e on track to deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people.鈥�
About 3.56 billion people used at least one of Meta’s apps on a daily basis in March, which declined slightly from December. That decline is due to internet disruptions in Iran and the restriction on access to WhatsApp in Russia, company leaders said in a post-earnings call.
Meta expects total revenue for the second and current quarter to be in the range of $58 billion to $61 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of $59.48 billion.
The company also updated its projected capital expenditures for the year to be in the range of $125 billion to $145 billion, increased from the previously announced range of $115 billion to 4135 billion. Meta said the change reflects its expectations of higher component pricing and, 鈥渢o a lesser extent,鈥� additional data center costs.
Meta鈥檚 stock price was down more than 6% in extended trading after the numbers came out.
When Meta posted its initial forecast for 2026 spending at the close of last year, it said the year-over-year growth was driven by increased investment to support Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts. Since then, the company has said it is , or about 8,000 workers, as it continues to ramp up spending on infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires.
鈥淚nvestments in data centers are part of a massive gamble by Big Tech firms to win the AI race, to develop artificial general intelligence and to drive massive revenue and profits in the future,” said J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, in a statement. 鈥淏ut the risks associated with alienating the top-tier human workforce that took years to build too often goes unnoticed.鈥�
Meta ended March with nearly 78,000 workers, up 1% year over year.
While speaking on a post-earnings call about AI agents and AI-powered products Meta is developing, Zuckerberg said he doesn’t believe AI will replace people, as many workers fear. 鈥淚nstead, I think that AI is going to amplify people鈥檚 ability to do what you want, whether that鈥檚 to improve your health, your learning, your relationships, your ability to achieve your personal career goals and more,鈥� he said.
Susan Li, Meta鈥檚 CFO, said on the same call that the first quarter showed strong execution across its core ads and engagement initiative, but also noted that legal and regulatory matters, could make a dent in progress moving forward.
The company is monitoring 鈥� and the US that could significantly impact our business and financial results,鈥� Li said as she noted that there has been increased scrutiny as of late on 鈥測outh-related issues.鈥�
The jury in a landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles recently for harms to a young woman who began using Meta鈥檚 platforms 鈥� as well as Alphabet’s YouTube 鈥� as a child. Additional trials scheduled for this year and beyond 鈥渕ay ultimately result in a material loss,鈥� Li said.
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