TMTPOST -- Meta Platforms, Inc.   stock   jumped   more than   11%   to settle at $773.44   on Thursday, refreshing   its record close   set   more than five months ago. Shares reversed   its   two-day decline   after Facebook parent   posted blowout   earnings   and vowed   to ramp   up investment in artificial intelligence   ( AI ) .  

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Meta   delivered a huge earnings beat   for   the quarter ended   June   30.   Diluted earnings per share ( EPS ) popped 38.4%   year-over-year   ( YoY )   to   $7.14,   $1.25, or   21.2%, ahead of analysts estimated $5.89.   Revenue popped 22%   YoY to $47.52 billion,   beating Wall   Street   projection of $44.83 billion.   Operating income soared   38% YoY to $20.44   billion and operating margin increased   5   percentage points YoY to 43%, also above estimated income of $17.24   billion with a margin of 38.3%.

The closed-watched bread & butter advertising earned $46.56   billion from April to June with a 21% YoY rise, versus analysts estimated $44.07   billion. Meta needs its advertising business to continue growing in order to fund an expensive expansion in artificial intelligence, which is driving the future of the business through improvements to ads, algorithms and personalization.  

Family of Apps revenue added 22% YoY to $47.15   billion for the second   quarter, compared with expected $44.4   billion. Revenue from Reality Labs, the hardware unit that houses metaverse technologies,   gained   4.8% YoY to $370   million, above   expectation of $386 million.   The   segment   reversed a 6.4%   decline in revenue   for   the first quarter.  

Meta kept   three-digital   increase in   capital expenditure ( Capex ) ,   a   gauge   reflecting   how the company is investing   in   its   outsize   AI   ambitions.   Capex   around doubled from   a year ago   to $17.01   billion. "The investments it ’ s making in AI are already paying off in its ads business," said   Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at research firm eMarketer.

Meta ’ s guidance remained   solid. It expected revenue for the third quarter to be in the range of $47.5 billion to $50.5 billion, higher than   the average analyst estimate of $46.2   billion.   The company said that while it is "not providing an outlook for fourth quarter revenue, we would expect our year-over-year growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2025 to be slower than the third quarter as we lap a period of stronger growth in the fourth quarter of 2024."

For the full year, Meta called for total expenses to be in the range of $114   billion to $118 billion, higher than   the prior outlook of $113billion to $118   billion   and reflecting a YoY growth rate of 20% to 24%.   Meta also said it sees 2026 year-over-year expense growth to be above 2025, and cited infrastructure costs and, obviously, employee compensation which is to be expected in light of anecdotes it is paying $100   million   guarantees to AI scientists.

Looking at the all important   Capex,   Meta now sees Capex for this year, including principal payments on finance leases,   to   be in the range of $66 billion   to $72 billion,   also higher from the previous estimate of $64billion to $72 billion and up a stunning $30 billion,or 4.5% YoY   at the mid-point.   The company said that it "currently expects another year of similarly significant capital expenditures dollar growth in 2026 as we continue aggressively pursuing opportunities to bring additional capacity online to meet the needs of our artificial intelligence efforts and business operations."

Meta CEO   Mark Zuckerberg   attributed AI for boosting   its   results."The strong performance this quarter is largely thanks to AI unlocking greater efficiency and gains across our ad system," he told analysts at   an earnings   call.

"We've had a strong quarter both in terms of our business and community," Zuckerberg   said in a statement. "I'm   excited to build personal superintelligence for everyone in the world."   Prior to financial report, Zuckberg posted a video touting his vision for personal superintelligence. He expected the creation of superintelligence will herald a new era of personal empowerment.

"AI keeps accelerating, and over the past few months, we ’ ve begun to see glimpses of AI systems improving themselves," Zuckerberg said in the video posted on Facebook. "So developing superintelligence is now in sight, but there ’ s this big open question about what we should direct superintelligence towards."