Meta Q1 Revenue Jumps 27% and Profit Doubles to $12.4 Billion, Stock Falls on Weak Outlook

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Social-media powerhouse Meta punched in huge sales growth for the first quarter of 2024, as Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” job cuts last year paid off with net income more than doubling.

The company, parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, reported Q1 revenue of $36.46 billion, up 27%, and net income soared 117% to $12.37 billion (or $4.71 per share).

The results topped Wall Street expectations. However, shares of Meta fell more than 11% in after-hours trading after the company provided Q2 guidance that fell below analyst forecasts.

Meta said it expects second quarter 2024 total revenue to be in the range of $36.5 billion-$39 billion. In addition, the company upped estimates for full-year 2024 capital spending to $35 billion-40 billion (versus $30 billion-$37 billion previously) “as we continue to accelerate our infrastructure investments to support our artificial intelligence (AI) roadmap.” It also expects capital expenditures will continue to increase in 2025 due to investment in AI. “It’s been a good start to the year,” Zuckerberg, Meta’s chairman and CEO, said in prepared remarks. “We’re seeing healthy growth across our apps and we continue making steady progress building the metaverse as well.” Analysts on average had expected Meta’s Q1 revenue to hit $36.16 billion with earnings per share of $4.32, according to data provider LSEG.