Meta reported earnings-per-share of $6.18, falling short of the expected $7.22, and raised its full-year 2026 capital expenditure forecast to a range of $130 to $145 billion. This led to a 7% drop in its stock price.
Analysts expressed frustration over the lack of immediate returns from Meta's AI investments, with Bernstein's Mark Shmulik questioning when AI would significantly influence consumer behavior. In contrast, Microsoft experienced a 43% revenue growth in its Azure cloud platform and maintained its capital expenditure forecast, resulting in a 7% increase in its stock price.
Analysts praised Microsoft's performance, indicating that its AI investments are beginning to yield tangible results, unlike Meta's, which is still in the exploratory phase. Zuckerberg emphasized Meta's flexible business model and plans to monetize its computing capacity, but analysts remained skeptical about the viability of these strategies