The social media giant reported revenue of $423.1 billion and earnings per share of $6.43. This is a revenue increase of 16% and 37% per share. As more people use the platform, profits come into play.
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Shares in social media giant Meta rose on Wednesday after reporting stronger than expected revenue in the first quarter.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram recognizes a 16% increase in revenue and a 37% increase in earnings per share compared to the first quarter of 2024. The company also reported a 3% increase in operating margin voted by LSEG data, according to CNBC. The company reported actual revenue of $423.1 billion and earnings per share of $6.43.
According to Meta, the number of “daily active people” on the platform increased by 16%, with a total of over 3.4 billion users. The company reports that AD impressions increased by 5% as prices averaged 10%.
“We have a strong start to a crucial year, our community continues to grow and our business is working very well,” said Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta in a statement.
Metastock rose after the release in after-hours trading, showing an improvement of around 4.1%.
Meta expects revenue to increase in the second quarter
Meta said it expects second quarter revenue to range between $42.5 billion and $45.5 billion.
The company also raised guidance on annual capital expenditures, predicting it would spend between $64 billion and $72 billion.
“This updated Outlook reflects artificial intelligence efforts and additional data center investments to support increased expected costs for infrastructure hardware,” the company said.
EU regulations raise concerns
The company warned that the European Commission’s decision would have a “significant impact” on businesses soon in the third quarter of this year.
The committee found that Meta’s “consent or payment” advertising model violated the European Union’s requirement that the platform provides users with the option of providing less personal data at no charge. The committee was fined 200 million euros earlier this month.
“Based on feedback from the EC… we expect that we will need to make some changes to the model, which could result in a significantly worse user experience for European users,” the company said.