Meta's Impressive First Quarter Sparks Market Optimism

Meta’s stock climbed by as much as 5% following the announcement of higher-than-anticipated revenue for the first quarter. However, Meta’s finance chief, Susan Li, cautioned that second-quarter sales are projected to be between $42.5 billion and $45.5 billion, with the company noticing a slight dip in advertising spend from Asian e-commerce companies. Analysts had predicted second-quarter revenue to be around $44.03 billion. In a revised forecast, Meta increased its 2025 capital expenditures to a range of $64 billion to $72 billion, a rise from the previous $60 billion to $65 billion estimate.

In this quarter, Meta’s sales surged by 16% compared to the previous year, and net income soared 35% to $16.64 billion, up from last year’s $12.37 billion. The number of daily active users rose to 3.43 billion, surpassing analyst expectations of 3.39 billion. Additionally, Meta’s Threads microblogging platform now boasts 350 million monthly users, an increase from 320 million in January. The Meta AI digital assistant continues to grow in popularity, now engaging nearly 1 billion monthly users.