Meta Posts Strong First-Quarter Results on Ad Sales; Stock Jumps in After-Hours Trading

‘Our community keeps growing with more than 33.4 billion people now using at least one of our apps each day,’ CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

A pedestrian passes the Meta logo at the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on Oct. 28, 2021. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Shares of Meta Platforms Inc. jumped more than 5 percent in the after-hours session on April 30 after the social media giant posted better-than-expected earnings.

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Wall Street analysts during the company’s quarterly conference call that the strong first-quarter earnings were mainly due to solid gains in online ad sales across its social media platforms. In March, the company’s apps averaged 3.43 billion daily active users, up by 6 percent from a year ago.

Ad impressions delivered across Meta’s “family of apps”—including Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads—increased by 5 percent year over year. The average price per online ad jumped 10 percent from a year ago, while quarterly revenue rose by 16 percent, to $41.9 billion.

“Our community keeps growing with more than 33.4 billion people now using at least one of our apps each day,” Zuckerberg said during the conference call after market close. “Our business is also performing very well, and I think we’re well-positioned to navigate the macroeconomic uncertainty.”

Zuckerberg also explained in detail how the Silicon Valley technology giant is adapting to artificial intelligence (AI) and seeking new growth opportunities from the emerging technology. He said AI is not only transforming the company’s operations and how social media users interact with each other, but will also determine the company’s direction and long-term investments, from building general intelligence and leading AI models and infrastructure.

Meta’s shares rose 5.36 percent in after-hours trading, erasing the losses from the April 30 session on the Nasdaq, when the stock closed at $549, down $5.44, or nearly 1 percent. Year to date, Meta’s stock is down 6.2 percent, almost in tandem with the S&P 500’s 5.3 percent decline.

For the period ended March 31, the Menlo Park, California-based social media conglomerate reported net income of $16.6 billion, or $6.45 per share, up by 36.5 percent from $12.3 billion, or $4.71 per share, a year ago. Revenue grew 16 percent, to $42.3 billion, from $36.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024.

According to FactSet’s consensus estimates, Instagram and Facebook’s parent company was expected to report earnings per share of $5.23 on revenue of $41.45 billion for the quarter.

Heading into the second quarter, Meta said it now expects revenue to be in the range of $42.5 billion to $45.5 billion. For the full year, capital spending is expected to increase to $64 billion to $72 billion, compared with the prior outlook of $60 billion  to $65 billion.

Zuckerberg said the updated outlook reflects additional data center investments to support the company’s artificial intelligence and core businesses.

In December 2024, Meta and Louisiana Economic Development (LED) announced a $10 billion AI data center project in Richland Parish, calling it “a transformational investment that cements the state’s status as a major innovation hub and leader in the global digital revolution.”

Construction on the 4 million-square-foot data center is already underway and is expected to continue through 2030, promising a decade of economic growth and job creation. At its peak, the project is expected to employ 5,000 workers on the 2,250-acre site.

In addition, Zuckerberg said the company would continue to monitor an active regulatory landscape, including the increasing legal and regulatory headwinds in the EU and the United States that could significantly impact business and financial results.

Two weeks ago, Zuckerberg testified in federal court as part of a trial in which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) attempted to convince a judge that Meta violated antitrust law.

The trial is part of a longstanding lawsuit the federal government brought against the company during President Donald Trump’s first term. Meta and Zuckerberg are also the subject of several other state and federal lawsuits and investigations, ranging from antitrust claims and business in China to child privacy and social media monitoring complaints on the company’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms.

On April 12, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, sent a letter to Zuckerberg inviting him to testify regarding former Facebook employee Sarah Wynn-Williams’s allegations against the tech giant.

In a subcommittee hearing ahead of the FTC trial on April 11, Wynn-Williams detailed Meta’s alleged censorship collusion with the Chinese Communist Party, the company’s mishandling of artificial intelligence know-how, and Meta’s misrepresentations to Congress.