Meta stock drops nearly 9% on raised AI capex forecast and 20M user decline despite strong Q1 results

Meta's stock fell nearly 9% Thursday after the company raised its capital spending forecast by almost $10B to between $125B and $145B and reported a 20M global user drop in its family of apps, even as Q1 revenue rose 33% to $56.3B and net income hit $26.8B. CFO Susan Li blamed the user decline on “internet disruptions in Iran, as well as a restriction on access to WhatsApp in Russia,” and said Meta has “continued to underestimate our compute needs,” while the company's Reality Labs division posted a $4.03B operating loss in the quarter, bringing total losses on the metaverse division to roughly $80B since late 2020. Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman wrote in a note that “the market was less united on what to make of the spending plans,” but said Meta “still looks like one of the clearest examples of heavy investment translating into returns for its core business.”