“Meta Platforms (Meta) reported its second-quarter earnings late Wednesday, which easily exceeded analysts’ expectations. Meta stock surged after hours following the announcement.”
According to Factset, In the quarter ending in June, the revenue of Facebook and Instagram’s parent company increased by 22% year-over-year to $39.07 billion. Analysts had expected the Menlo Park, California-based company to report sales of $38.26 billion.
According to FactSet,Earnings were $5.16 per share, up 73% from a year earlier. Analysts were expecting $4.72 per share.
Meanwhile, Meta forecasts that its revenue for the third quarter will be between $38.5 billion and $41 billion. Before Meta reported its results, analysts had projected sales of $39.1 billion for the quarter ending in September.
Meanwhile, Meta stated that it expects capital expenditures for this year to be between $37 billion and $40 billion. This is higher than its previous range of $35 billion to $40 billion.
‘Bellwether’ For AI Stocks
Meta stock watchers offered early takes on Facebook parent company’s Q2 results.
This financial performance was largely driven by robust advertising sales and an expanding user base across its suite of applications, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Notably, the company’s daily active users reached 2.1 billion, underscoring its continued dominance in the social media landscape.
“Overall, we view the results as solid and believe Meta continues to be a share taker in the broader digital ad market, partly reflecting its more aggressive AI tactics to improve content/ad tools,”
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, emphasized the strategic importance of AI during the earnings call. He highlighted the company’s commitment to building cutting-edge AI technologies and leveraging them to create value for users and advertisers. “AI is at the core of our mission to connect people and build communities,” Zuckerberg stated. “Our advancements in AI are enabling us to deliver more relevant content and ads, improving user experiences and driving business growth.”
Looking ahead, Meta plans to continue investing heavily in AI research and development. The company aims to expand its AI capabilities across all its platforms, further enhancing user engagement and monetization opportunities. Additionally, Meta is exploring AI applications in emerging areas such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), which could open new revenue streams and solidify its position as a tech leader.
We are in the fortunate position that strong results we are seeing in our core product and business give us the opportunity to make deep investments for the future,” Zuckerberg said.
Meta stock was up more than 5% in recent extended trading.