Meta Beats Wall Street’s Q4 Revenue Estimates—As AI Spending Rises

Topline

Fourth-quarter earnings and revenue released Wednesday by Meta exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, as the tech giant said it anticipated increased spending this year as it allocated more resources toward AI.

The company previously said it would rapidly increase spending to meet AI goals.

Key Facts

Meta reported $59.8 billion in revenue and $8.88 earnings per share through Q4, marking an annual increase of 24% and 11%, respectively.

Those figures surpassed analysts’ estimates of $51.2 billion and $8.21 EPS, or year-over-year growth of roughly 5.8% and 2.4%, respectively, according to FactSet.

Capital expenditures totaled $22.14 billion in the quarter, above estimates of $21.8 billion, after Meta signaled increased spending in October as part of its broader AI efforts.

Meta said it anticipated capital expenditures between $115 billion and $135 billion in 2026 after totaling $72.2 billion in 2025, citing increased investment to support its “Superintelligence” unit.

Shares of Meta rose 3.6% in after-hours trading.

What Time Is Meta’s Earnings Call?

Meta will host a call with investors at 4:30 p.m. EST, with an option to listen in on its investor relations website.

Key Background

Meta ramped up spending on AI in 2025, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would “aggressively” prepare for the arrival of superintelligence. Last quarter, Meta raised its capital expenditures estimates from between $66 billion and $72 billion to between $70 billion and $72 billion for 2025, and Zuckerberg signaled the company would continue spending more on computing power for its AI initiatives, which in turn would increase costs for data center and cloud services. Meta, at the time, said it expected 2026 capital expenditure growth to be “notably larger.” As part of its shift to AI, Meta reportedly laid off more than 1,000 Reality Labs employees who worked on VR initiatives, after the company said in December it would shift “some” of its investment from its Metaverse toward AI-powered glasses.

What To Watch For

Meta, Microsoft and Tesla are the first of the “Magnificent Seven” companies to report their latest round of earnings. Apple will release its first-quarter earnings on Thursday, while Alphabet and Amazon will publish their latest fiscal data on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, respectively. Nvidia will be the last of the seven to report earnings on Feb. 25.