Net profit for the period stood at $26.8 billion, which included an exceptional gain of $8 billion due to a one-time, non-cash income tax benefit after the implementation of the new US tax policy. Excluding that, the numbers were marginally above analyst estimates of $17.2 billion.
Revenue grew 33% from last year, the fastest in any quarter since 2021, to $56.31 billion, higher than the $55.45 billion estimate. Meta earned $7.31 per share, also surpassing expectations of $6.79.
However, Daily Active People or DAP for the first quarter increased 4% year-on-year to 3.56 billion but was 5% lower than the fourth quarter and also lower than the 3.62 billion expectation from the street. Meta blamed the war in Iran and a restriction on access to WhatsApp in Russia behind the numbers.
Meta expects to now spend between $125 billion to $145 billion, higher than the previous projection of $115 billion to $135 billion. Despite the increase in spending projections, Meta spent only $19.84 billion this quarter, below the average estimate of $25.57 billion.
The company said that the increase in capex is reflective of higher component prices this year and additional data center costs to support future capacity. Average revenue per person also fell to $15.66 from $16.56 in the previous quarter but the figure was higher than the average estimate from analysts.
For the ongoing quarter, Meta expects sales to range between $58 billion to $61 billion, mostly in-line with expectations.
Last week, Meta announced that it will be laying off 10% of its workforce or over 8,000 employees, while no longer hiring people for 6,000 open roles. This is in addition to over 1,000 people that were laid-off from the Realty Labs division. Analysts expects these layoffs to save $3 billion for the company.
Shares of Meta Platforms are down 6.3% afterhours to $627.24. The stock had risen 25% in the last one month and still away from their record high of $796.25.
