Meta, Microsoft roar higher on strong earnings as AI spending booms

• Shares of Meta and Microsoft popped after reporting strong earnings that beat analysts' expectations.
• Meta and Microsoft have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure in recent years, and they will continue to shell out billions in capital expenditures.
• Analysts at Citi said the companies' increased capital expenditures will likely be a boon for chipmakers.

Shares of Meta soared 12% and Microsoft popped 5% on Thursday, after the companies reported better-than-expected earnings that beat on top and bottom lines.

Microsoft topped the $4 trillion market cap benchmark with the move, joining Nvidia in the club.

Both Meta and Microsoft have been investing heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure in recent years, and the companies said they expect to continue to shell out billions in capital expenditures.

Meta said capital expenditures will range between $66 billion and $72 billion for the full year, raising the low end of the company's previous estimate of between $64 billion and $72 billion. Microsoft sees over $30 billion in fiscal first quarter capital expenditures and assets acquired through finance leases, while analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $24.23 billion.

Analysts at Citi said the companies' increased capital expenditures will likely be a boon for chipmakers. Microsoft makes up roughly 8% of Advanced Micro Devices' sales, while Meta makes up about 2% of Broadcom's sales, the analysts said.

“We believe AVGO and AMD will be the primary beneficiaries of Microsoft's and Meta's increased capex,” they wrote in a Thursday note.

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In addition to increased capital expenditures, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on an AI hiring blitz, highlighted by a $14.3 billion investment into the data-labeling startup Scale AI and the launch of its new Meta Superintelligence Labs unit.

Morgan Stanley analysts said they “applaud the effort” and are pleased with the state of Meta's core business, but they remain a little wary of Zuckerberg's AI spending.

“On one hand, the core business is so strong that it's paying for all the new AI talent and infra several times over, but on the other hand the cavalier nature by which Zuckerberg is throwing money around is a bit unnerving, especially if things don't come together as planned with the new superintelligence team,” the analysts wrote.

Barclays analysts said Microsoft's generative AI scaling is still playing out, but the strong demand for its data center infrastructure continues to point to ongoing momentum for the quarters ahead. They maintained their overweight rating on the stock.

“With its strong Q4 FY25 results, MSFT confirmed its unique status in the software space and will likely continue to be one of the core holdings by investors,” they wrote in a note Wednesday.

Microsoft reported $76.44 billion in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter, up 18% year over year. The company said net income increased to $27.23 billion, or $3.65 per share, from $22.04 billion a year ago.

Meta reported $47.52 billion in revenue for its second quarter, up 22% year over year. Its net income rose 36% year over year to $18.34 billion, or $7.14 per share.