This Time The Shares of Meta Platforms Went Up Due to The Hit of Earnings.

Meta Platforms (META) is the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 as the social media giant beat quarterly estimates in nearly every key financial metric and delivered strong guidance.

The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp reported revenue up 2.6% to $28.6 billion in the first quarter. Analysts were expecting a decline. Earnings per share (EPS) of $2.20 also beat forecasts. Daily Active Users (DAU) and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) were also better than expected.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is "getting more efficient so we can build better products faster and put ourselves in a stronger position to deliver on our long-term vision." In January, Zuckerberg called 2023 "the year of efficiency," and Meta took steps to cut costs, including cutting 21,000 jobs through November.

Zuckerberg joined Microsoft earlier this week to promote the success of its foray into artificial intelligence (AI). He cited "the progress we're making on our AI discovery engine" and Reels, Meta's social media video service, as key drivers of the company's growth.

Metaverse Loss

Although Meta's investment in Metaverse continues to bleed cash, the company's Reality Labs unit reported an operating loss of $3.99 billion during the period. The company expects Reality Labs' losses to widen this year.

Meta noted that it sees sales for the current quarter of between $29.5 billion and $32 billion, exceeding estimates.

Shares of Meta Platforms are up 14% as of 1 p.m. New York time. They have nearly doubled so far this year, outpacing the 20% gain in the broader S&P 500 information technology sector over the same period.