- 24% rise in Q4 revenue to $59.9 billion
- 11% rise in EPS to $8.88
- Q1 2026 revenue guide $53.5-56.5 billion
- Shares up 4% in after-hours trading
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown:
“Meta delivered another strong quarter, with shares jumping 4% after hours as revenue came in a couple of percent ahead of consensus and EPS beat by 8%, helped by lower taxes. First-quarter guidance was the real highlight, with the top end, where Meta tends to land, roughly 10% above expectations. Core KPIs also impressed, with ad impressions up 18% and the already‑enormous user base continuing to grow.
But the real headline is the relentless ramp in capex, a trajectory that’s turning into a windfall for AI infrastructure suppliers like Nvidia. At the top end of guidance, capex would represent an enormous 85%+ increase on 2025 levels. Zuckerberg is clearly going all‑in on AI, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the share reaction cool as investors absorb those aggressive investment plans.
Even so, Meta is assembling one of the largest AI compute clusters outside the cloud giants, all aimed at strengthening its family of apps. It’s not surprising to see investors cautious of late; Meta’s latest models were disappointing on the face of it, and some view the AI push as simply Metaverse 2.0. But that’s not quite the full picture. Meta’s models are internally focused and built to enhance engagement and advertiser performance, rather than top benchmarks, and the benefits are already working through to the financials.
The real sticking point is that markets are fully pricing in the ramping AI investment costs while giving almost no credit for the resulting upside – a mismatch that should correct in time and an avenue investors can look to for upside.”
