Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, showcasing a period of extraordinary growth driven by an accelerating digital advertising market and a significant one-time fiscal tailwind.
The Menlo Park-based social media giant posted total revenue of $56.31 billion, representing a 33% increase year-over-year, as the company’s investments in AI-driven content recommendations and ad targeting continued to yield higher engagement across its ecosystem.
The company’s bottom-line performance was even more pronounced.
Net income for the quarter surged 61% to $26.77 billion, while diluted earnings per share (EPS) grew 62% to $10.44.
These results were substantially bolstered by a $8.03 billion tax benefit recognized during the quarter, related to U.S. Treasury Notice 2026-7.
Excluding this benefit, Meta’s operational performance remained robust, characterized by strong sales leverage and a high-margin advertising core.
Meta’s "Family of Apps"—including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp—reached a record 3.56 billion daily active people on average for March 2026.
This massive user base provided the foundation for a 19% year-over-year increase in ad impressions delivered across its platforms.
Crucially, the average price per advertisement also climbed 12%, signaling a healthy demand environment and the effectiveness of Meta’s improved attribution tools for advertisers.
While the quarter was defined by record profits, Meta also signaled its intent to lead the global artificial intelligence infrastructure race.
The company reported first-quarter costs and expenses of $33.44 billion and capital expenditures of $19.84 billion.
Looking ahead, Meta significantly revised its full-year 2026 capital expenditure guidance to a range of $125 billion to $145 billion, up from previous estimates.
This massive spend is directed toward the build-out of next-generation data centers and specialized hardware to support the training and deployment of its Llama foundation models.
For the second quarter of 2026, Meta provided revenue guidance in the range of $58 billion to $61 billion, suggesting that the double-digit growth trajectory is expected to persist.
The company also updated its full-year expense outlook to $162 billion to $169 billion, reflecting the costs associated with its aggressive hiring and infrastructure scaling.