Meta Platforms reports a strong Q1: find out more

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Meta Platforms Inc is trading down in extended hours even though it reported market-beating financial results for its first quarter.

Meta stock down on muted revenue guidance

Investors are cautious because the tech behemoth was somewhat muted in terms of guidance for the future. Meta now forecasts its revenue to fall between $36.5 billion and $39 billion in Q2.

Analysts, in comparison, were at $38.3 billion. Mark Zuckerberg – the chief executive of $META said in the earnings report today:

It’s been a good start to the year. We’re seeing healthy growth across our apps and we continue making steady progress building the metaverse as well.

The Nasdaq-listed firm saw its operating margin improve by 1,300 basis points to 38% in the recently concluded quarter. Meta stock is now up close to 50% versus the start of 2024.

User growth and price per ad

Meta Platforms did particularly well in advertising this quarter with ad impressions up 20% and price per ad up 6.0% on average.

The social media giant ended the quarter with 3.24 billion daily active users (DAUs) – up a better-than-expected 7.0% versus last year. CEO Zuckerberg also said on Wednesday:

$META reported in average revenue per user (ARPU) for the first quarter on Wednesday. Wall Street currently has a consensus “buy” rating on its shares.

Notable figures in Meta Q1 earnings release

Earned $12.37 billion versus the year-ago $5.70 billion

Per-share earnings also more than doubled from $2.20 to $4.71

Revenue went up 27% year-over-year to $36.46 billion

Consensus was $4.32 a share on $36.16 billion in revenue

Reality Labs lost another billion in fiscal Q1

Meta now forecasts up to $40 billion in CAPEX this year – up from its prior guidance of $30 billion to $37 billion. The multinational also confirmed that capital expenditures will increase further in 2025 as it continues to invest aggressively in AI. According to CEO Zuckerberg: