Meta surges on strong first quarter results

Shares of Meta, the newly formed parent company of Facebook, shot up over 10 percent after hours Wednesday following the release of its first quarter earnings report.

The company beat Wall Street projections on earnings per share, at $2.72, and even though it just missed revenue expectations, user growth was enough to propel the stock up.

Meta reported 1.96 billion daily active users in the first quarter, beating analyst estimates after reporting its first ever decline in users last quarter. 

“We made progress this quarter across a number of key company priorities and we remain confident in the long-term opportunities and growth that our product roadmap will unlock,” Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in statement. “More people use our services today than ever before, and I’m proud of how our products are serving people around the world.”

Meta’s main apps — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — accounted for 97.5 percent of the company’s $27.9 billion in first quarter revenue. Reality Labs, the sector of the company focused on metaverse applications, brought in $695 million.

Meta forecast revenue between $28 billion and $30 billion for the second quarter, chalking up lower-than-expected profit to the war in Ukraine.

Notably, the company lowered predicted 2022 expenses down from between $90 billion to $95 billion to $87 billion to $92 billion.

Updated at 4:38 p.m.