Meta Platforms (META, Financials) reported fourth-quarter 2024 earnings that exceeded expectations, driven by strong advertising revenue and continued investment in artificial intelligence.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg underlined Meta’s AI goals during the earnings call of the firm, stressing that 2025 would be a crucial year for Meta AI and the company’s more general AI infrastructure. He also underlined the company’s excellent financial situation, more user involvement, and developments in AI-driven ad targeting.
Meta announced profits per share of $8.02, above predictions by $1.28; sales increased 20.63% year-over-year to $48.39 billion, topping estimates by $1.39 billion. Zuckerberg ascribed the expansion to better ad personalizing, more user interaction across Meta’s platforms, and more advertiser demand. According to the firm, 3.3 billion individuals everyday use at least one of its applications.
Though it reported $1.1 billion in income, Meta’s virtual and augmented reality branch, Reality Labs, had an operating loss of $5 billion. Zuckerberg underlined his long-term vision for smart glasses driven by artificial intelligence, stressing that the path of the category would be decided by 2025.
With revenues of $46.8 billion, up 21% from year before, advertising remained the key source of income for the business. Ad impressions jumped 6%; the average price per ad climbed by 14%. Zuckerberg cited Meta’s AI-powered ad rating algorithm as a main contributor to raising company advertising efficiency and return on investment.
With $77.8 billion in cash and marketable securities at conclusion of the quarter, Meta closed Between $60 billion and $65 billion is expected for 2025 capital expenditures by the corporation; high-density data centers and AI infrastructure are expected to be major investments.
Zuckerberg described Meta’s intentions for ongoing artificial intelligence research, pointing out that the forthcoming Llama 4 model would endeavor to establish open-source AI as a top industry standard. He also spoke about Meta AI’s integration across all of the company’s platforms and aim of exceeding one billion consumers.
Reflecting up to 15% annual growth, Meta projects first-quarter 2025 income between $39.5 billion and $41.8 billion ahead. Zuckerberg said the business would keep emphasizing artificial intelligence-driven innovation, ad monetization techniques, and increasing the capabilities of its AI assistant.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.