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The social media company continues ramping up AI investment, narrowing its 2026 capital expenditure outlook.
Meta Platforms shares slid about 10% in premarket trading Thursday as a weaker revenue outlook and soaring AI-related capital spending dampened investor sentiment despite resilient quarterly revenue.
The company projected third-quarter revenue of $61 billion to $64 billion, below Wall Street expectations, while raising the lower end of its annual capital expenditure forecast to $130 billion as it expands AI infrastructure.
Second-quarter earnings per share missed expectations at $6.18 despite revenue reaching $60.8 billion, while daily active people totaled 3.6 billion, slightly below forecasts, according to Meta.
The company reported that free cash flow plunged to $784 million from $8.55 billion a year earlier, reflecting higher AI-related spending, and net income fell to $15.85 billion.
Meta said it is investing heavily in AI model training, personal AI agents and new data centers, while also exploring opportunities to generate revenue by leasing excess computing capacity to third parties.
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