Meta stocks gain on sharply higher Q4 profit

CEO Mark Zuckerberg expects 2025 to “be the year when a highly intelligent and personalised AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people”

Washington: Meta Platforms Inc posted sharply higher profit and revenue for its fourth quarter on Wednesday January 30, thanks to higher ad revenue on its social media properties, sending its shares up in after-hours trading even as it forecast increasing expenses on its artificial intelligence efforts.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he expects 2025 to “be the year when a highly intelligent and personalised AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people, and I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant.”

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The Menlo Park, California-based company earned $20.83 billion, or $8.02 per share, in the October-December quarter. That’s up 49% from $14.02 billion, or $5.33 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew 21% to $48.39 billion from $40.11 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $6.76 per share on revenue of $47 billion, according to a poll by FactSet. “We continue to make good progress on AI, glasses, and the future of social media,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.

For the current quarter, Meta said expects revenue of $39.5 billion to $41.8 billion. Analysts are expecting revenue at the high end of that range — $41.68 billion. The company also said it expects expenses in the range of $114 billion to $119 billion, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation.

Meta had 74,067 employees as of December 31, up 10% from a year earlier. “Meta’s Q4 performance underscores the company’s resilience in a still-uncertain digital ad market. By beating both earnings and revenue estimates, they’ve demonstrated that cost discipline and efficiency gains are paying dividends,” said Jesse Cohen, an analyst with Investing.com.

“However, the real headline is their commitment to aggressive capital expenditures. This signals Meta is doubling down on its AI infrastructure and metaverse ambitions, even as investors grapple with the costs.” Separately, Meta has agreed to pay roughly $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit that President Donald Trump brought against the company and Zuckerberg after Trump‘s accounts were suspended following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

“This is also going to be a big year for redefining our relationship with governments,” Zuckerberg said in a conference call with analysts.

“We now have a US administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning, and that will defend our values and interests abroad. And I’m optimistic about the progress and innovation this is going to unlock.”

Meta’s stock rose $13.53, or 2%, to $690.02 in after-hours trading.