New York, January 29, 2026, 14:50 (EST) — Regular session
- Meta shares jumped roughly 10% during afternoon trading following its quarterly earnings release
- Company projects 2026 capex between $115 billion and $135 billion to support AI expansion
- Investors are weighing strong ad performance against a steep rise in spending and mounting legal risks
Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. jumped roughly 10% to $735.36 in afternoon trading on Thursday, hitting a high of $741.63 earlier. Volume reached about 48 million shares, lifting the company’s market capitalization to near $1.8 trillion.
The move arrives amid a fierce debate in the market: how far is too far when it comes to spending on artificial intelligence, and just how quickly do investors want returns.
Meta is aiming to tackle all of that at once — ramp up spending, keep its ad business running smoothly, and urge shareholders to stay patient for what it dubs “personal superintelligence.” It’s vague, sure, but that’s where things stand for now.
Meta reported a 24% jump in fourth-quarter revenue to $59.89 billion, driven by $58.14 billion in advertising sales and earnings per share of $8.88. The company projects first-quarter revenue between $53.5 billion and $56.5 billion. It also set 2026 expense guidance at $162 billion to $169 billion, with capital expenditures — covering investments in data centers and servers — climbing to $115 billion-$135 billion, up from $72.22 billion in 2025, to back its Meta Superintelligence Labs and core operations. CEO Mark Zuckerberg described 2025 as a year of “strong business performance” and expressed eagerness to push forward on personal superintelligence in 2026. Meta plans to start tweaking its Less Personalized Ads service in Europe this quarter and flagged legal and regulatory challenges ahead. 1
Meta’s capex forecast points to about a 73% surge, topping the $109.9 billion estimate from Visible Alpha. The spender is chasing “superintelligence,” a theoretical point where machines surpass humans at all tasks. The company attributes the increase to data-center expansions, rising depreciation, and payments to third-party cloud providers like Alphabet’s Google, CoreWeave, and Nebius. CFO Susan Li flagged capacity constraints stretching through much of 2026. Meta is also ramping up ads on WhatsApp and Threads as it battles TikTok and YouTube Shorts for user attention. John Belton, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, weighed in, saying the valuation “is really not that demanding,” noting Meta’s core ad business continues to deliver returns. 2
Meta detailed its risk factors and ongoing issues in an annual report submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, as the company steps up its AI efforts. 3
The bet lies in the spending. Should ad demand weaken or regulatory restrictions tighten in Europe or the U.S., that same budget that thrills AI advocates could quickly turn into a margin headache.
Traders now want to see how fast Meta can convert that infrastructure into products that boost revenue per ad — and if “capacity constraints” lead to delays, increased costs, or a mix of both. Wall Street will be looking closely for the next round of analyst revisions and any early hints that the capex range is still shifting.
The upcoming U.S. January jobs report, set for release on Feb. 6, is the key macro event for rate-sensitive mega-caps. It could shift the outlook on how long borrowing costs remain high. 4
