Meta Platforms broke the jinx. It reported good results for its June quarter — revenue up 22% and earnings up 73% — and unlike results from some other Big Tech companies, Meta ’ s stock didn ’ t fall.

"We had a strong quarter, and Meta AI is on track to be the most used AI assistant in the world by the end of the year," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the press release.  

The numbers easily surpassed Wall Street estimates. Analysts ’ consensus forecast for June revenue was $38.3 billion; Meta reported $39 billion. The earnings forecast averaged $4.80 a share; Meta earned $5.16.

The social media giant got even bigger. Daily active people rose 7% year-over-year, to 3.3 billion. Ad impressions rose 10% and ad prices rose 10%, on average.

Ad sales have surged, as advertisers shift their budgets from broadcast television to the company ’ s 3 billion active users, in a year that features an Olympics and a presidential election. In the earnings call, CFO Susan Li said Meta was getting better at targeting and serving ads. New tools improved return on ad spending by 22% in the U.S., she said.

While revenue jumped 22%, costs only increased 7% and headcount fell. So profit margins bulged. Operating profits widened from 29% in June 2023, to 38% in June 2024.

Analysts had hoped for September quarter revenue guidance that would amount to 15% growth year-over-year. In fact, at the midpoint of Meta ’ s new forecast ( of $38.5 billion to $41 billion ) , it will have 24% growth in September.

In premarket trading Thursday, shares of the Facebook and Instagram parent were up 7.3%. The shares of Alphabet, Tesla, and Microsoft all traded down after those companies reported their June-quarter results.

At Wednesday ’ s closing price of $474.83, Meta ’ s stock was down 12% from early July, but still up 34% for 2024.

The recent pullback leaves Meta stock trading at 20 times the consensus forecast of $23.20 a share in earnings for 2025. Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said that was a good "tactical" setup for a stock pop after Meta reported. He was right.

Investors have shown anxiety about other companies ’ heavy capital spending on generative-AI infrastructure. Meta says it will keep its pedal to the metal. In its announcement, the company nudged up its range for 2024 year capex, from a midpoint of $37.5 billion, to a new midpoint of $38.5 billion. That implies that capex in the second half of this year will be 50% higher than the first half.

And capex could grow again, in 2025. "We currently expect significant capital expenditures growth in 2025 as we invest to support our artificial intelligence research and product development efforts," Li said in the release.

Zuckerberg devoted much of his earnings call discussion to AI.

"The big theme right now is, of course, AI," he said. He said advances in AI are driving engagement on Facebook and Instagram, and helping advertisers find interested viewers. Over time, it will personalize ads for each user.

Meta ’ s AI platform known as Llama is open source, and Zuckerberg said that will allow businesses, content creators, and users to build AI agents that can interact with their audiences. The current version of Llama is as good as any other generative-AI model out there, he said, and the next version will be better than any.

Most of the earnings call questions from analysts centered on AI capital spending.

Zuckerberg said he couldn ’ t predict when the capex needed for next generation AI would level off. Training the next generation Llama 4 will require 10-times the computing needed for Llama 3. "I ’ d rather risk building capacity before it is needed, rather than too late, given the long lead time for major infrastructure projects," he said.

Fortunately for Meta, its core business is growing strongly enough to fund its AI investments.

"I plan to fully seize that opportunity," said Zuckerberg.