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Meta Platforms Inc. reports strong first-quarter results, surpassing expectations with significant earnings growth, but the stock slipped in after-hours trading<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Instagram and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.<\/a> posted results Wednesday for the first quarter that exceeded expectations, showing growth in earnings, but the social media giant also increased its forecasted capital expenditures for the year.<\/p>\n The company earned $26.77 billion, or $10.44 per share, in the January-March period, up about 61% from $16.64 billion, or $6.43 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 33% from last year to $56.31 billion. Meta was expected to earn $6.67 per share on revenue of $55.6 billion, per the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet Research.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a milestone quarter with strong momentum across our apps and the release of our first model from Meta Superintelligence Labs,\u201d CEO Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re on track to deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people.\u201d<\/p>\n Meta expects total revenue for the second and current quarter to be in the range of $58 billion to $61 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of $59.48 billion.<\/p>\n The company also updated its projected capital expenditures for the year to be in the range of $125 billion to $145 billion, increased from the previously announced range of $115 billion to 4135 billion. Meta said the change reflects its expectations of higher component pricing and, \u201cto a lesser extent,\u201d additional data center costs. <\/p>\n When Meta posted its initial forecast for 2026 spending at the close of last year, it said the year-over-year growth was driven by increased investment to support Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts. Since then, the company has said it is laying off about 10% of its workforce<\/a>, or about 8,000 workers, as it continues to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires.<\/p>\n Meta ended March with nearly 78,000 workers, up 1% year over year. <\/p>\n Meta’s stock price was down more than 6% in extended trading after the numbers came out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n