Why Meta Platforms Is Soaring Today

Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) are rising on Thursday. The company's stock gained 4.9% as of 12:46 p.m. ET, and gained as much as 8% earlier in the day. The leg up comes as the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) gained 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) gained 1.9%.

The social media behemoth released its Q1 report after market close yesterday, beating Wall Street's already-high expectations.

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Another strong quarter

The Facebook parent posted Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) of $6.43 on $42.3 billion in sales -- that's 35% EPS growth year over year (YOY) and 16% sales growth YOY. The figures came in well over Wall Street's targets. Meta's forecast revenue range of $42.5 billion to $45.5 billion for Q2 also beat expectations.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized the company's strong position despite macroeconomic uncertainty, particularly citing resilience in its advertising business and growth in AI. "We're making good progress on AI glasses and Meta AI, which now has almost 1 billion monthly actives," he said.

An AI spending spree

Meta significantly raised its capital expenditure forecast for 2025 to between $64 billion and $72 billion, a substantial increase from previous estimates. The spending growth is driven by the company's commitment to accelerate its AI programs and the infrastructure that enables them. Meta's ability to drive advertising revenue and efficiency with AI makes the technology extremely valuable to growth overall.

Meta is well-positioned

Meta continues to grow its active user base across its family of social media platforms, up 6% YOY. This, combined with the company's AI-driven efficiency, is leading to its incredible earnings growth. Its stock also remains one of the most reasonably priced among its mega-tech peers. I think Meta is a great pick.

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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.