Meta Platforms Q1 Earnings Highlights: Facebook Owner Beats Estimates, But Guidance, Higher Costs Ding Stock

Social media and technology company Meta Platforms META reported first-quarter financial results after the market close Wednesday.

Here are the key highlights.

What Happened: Meta reported first-quarter revenue of $36.45 billion, which was up 27% year-over-year. The revenue came in ahead of a Street consensus estimate of $36.16 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The company reported earnings per share of $4.71 in the first quarter, beating a Street estimate of $4.33.

Meta reported 3.24 billion Family Daily Active People in the first quarter, up 7% year-over-year.

Ad impressions were up 20% year-over-year in the first quarter, with the average price per ad up 6% year-over-year.

"It's been a good start to the year," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. "The new version of Meta AI with Llama 3 is another step towards building the world's leading AI. We're seeing healthy growth across our apps and we continue making steady progress building the metaverse as well."

What's Next: Guidance from the company calls for second-quarter revenue to be in a range of $36.5 billion to $39 billion compared to a Street consensus estimate of $38.3 billion.

Full-year 2024 expenses are projected to fall in a range of $96 billion to $99 billion, which is up from a prior guidance range of $94 billion to $99 billion. The company said higher infrastructure and legal costs led to the change in guidance.

The Reality Labs division is expected to have operating losses that increase "meaningfully" year-over-year due to product development efforts and investments.

The company said capital spending is likely increasing in future years as its artificial intelligence roadmap is supported.

META Price Action: Meta shares are down 11% to 440.70 in after-hours trading Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $207.13 to $531.48.

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