Meta Platforms charged higher in Wall Street's after-hours exchanges after the Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram parent posted forecast-beating financials for its fourth quarter.
Revenue came in at $59.89 billion, versus a market consensus forecast of $58.59 billion, and was up 24% year-on-year. Earnings per share, meanwhile, was reported at $8.88 compared to an analyst forecast of $8.23.
Profitability was mixed. Operating income totalled $24.75 billion, up 5.9%, whilst operating margin was 41%, down from 48% a year earlier.
Meta's spending outlook stayed front and centre. Meta forecasts 2026 capital expenditures of $115.00 billion to 135.00 billion, after 2025 spending totalled $72 billion. Total spending is expected to reach $162.00 billion to $169 billion in the year.
First-quarter 2026 revenue is meanwhile guided in the range between $53.50 billion and $56.50 billion.
Zuckerberg told investors that growth was driven by “record-breaking holiday demand and AI-driven performance gains”.
He added, “We are now seeing a major AI acceleration. I expect 2026 to be a year where this wave accelerates even further.”
Reality Labs - Meta's vehicle for R&D, as well as its AI glasses hardware, and the Quest augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology - continued to weigh on results. Revenue in the division was reported at $955 million, down 12%, as it marked an operating loss of $6.02 billion.
Alongside the results, investors also tracked other threads. The company has been pulling back investment in some metaverse efforts and cut about 1,500 jobs in that division. It said it wanted to focus on AI-powered wearables, including Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses and augmented-reality glasses prototypes.
Separately, reporting referenced delays to Meta’s Llama 4 Behemoth model and said the company has considered making a future major AI model proprietary.
Meta stock rallied around 7% in after-hours trading, adding $48 per share to $717.16.