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Meta EPS Preview: Can AI Monetization Justify Soaring CAPEX?
Key Takeaways
Meta will report Q2 EPS Wednesday after the market closes.
Shares have underperformed but are cheap relative to its history.
AI CAPEX will be the main focus for Wall Street investors.
Meta Platforms ((META - Free Report) ) is the world’s largest social media company. Over the past several years, the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has evolved from its core Facebook app to multiple apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta’s scale has helped it to build a sizable position in digital advertising, where it competes with Alphabet ((GOOGL - Free Report) ),Amazon ((AMZN - Free Report) ), and Snap ((SNAP - Free Report) ). Recently, Meta has made AI a focus, creating the “Llama” foundational model, leveraging it on the back end for ad optimization, offering a “Meta AI” virtual assistant embedded across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.
Meta Q2 EPS Information
Meta will report Q2 2026 financial results on Wednesday, July 29th, after the U.S. equity market closes. Below is some key information to know ahead of time:
META Wall Street Estimates
Zacks Consensus Analyst Estimates suggest that Q2 revenue will be ~$60.17B (26.63% YoY growth) while EPS will be $7.13 (-0.14% YoY growth).
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
META EPS Surprise History
Meta has consistently beaten Wall Street expectations. The company has beaten Zacks Consensus Estimates for 13 consecutive quarters while beating them by an average of 12.31% over the past four.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
META Implied Post-EPS Options Move
The options market is currently pricing in a post-earnings report move of +/- 7.3% in Meta shares.
META Stock Performance
Meta shares are -15.2% over the past year, underperforming the S&P 500’s 18.6% gain.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Valuation
Meta shares are reasonably priced. Currently, Meta trades at ~20x earnings, below the 10-year average of 26.9x.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
META Earnings: What to Watch
· AI CAPEX: Like many big tech giants, META’s capital expenditures have been soaring as the company jockeys for AI dominance. Currently, 2026 full-year CAPEX is expected to be between $125-$145 billion. Lately, Wall Street has been punishing companies like Google and Tesla for higher CAPEX. However, if Meta can illustrate enough of a positive revenue impact from ad spend, Wall Street may overlook higher spend.
· AI Infrastructure Partnerships: Meta is in the process of monetizing its massive cloud and compute capacity.Wall Street rumors are swirling about a potential multi-billion-deal with AI leader Anthropic. Such an announcement would be bullish for the stock.
· Reality Labs: Meta’s hardware and metaverse division has been a money pit for the company. Investors will be watching to see if there is any improvement here.
Bottom Line
Meta will report after Wednesday’s closing bell. While heavy AI spending has been a point of contention, Meta’s strong ad-targeting performance and low valuation make for a must-watch report.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
Image: Bigstock
Meta EPS Preview: Can AI Monetization Justify Soaring CAPEX?
Key Takeaways
Meta Platforms ((META - Free Report) ) is the world’s largest social media company. Over the past several years, the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has evolved from its core Facebook app to multiple apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta’s scale has helped it to build a sizable position in digital advertising, where it competes with Alphabet ((GOOGL - Free Report) ), Amazon ((AMZN - Free Report) ), and Snap ((SNAP - Free Report) ). Recently, Meta has made AI a focus, creating the “Llama” foundational model, leveraging it on the back end for ad optimization, offering a “Meta AI” virtual assistant embedded across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.
Meta Q2 EPS Information
Meta will report Q2 2026 financial results on Wednesday, July 29th, after the U.S. equity market closes. Below is some key information to know ahead of time:
META Wall Street Estimates
Zacks Consensus Analyst Estimates suggest that Q2 revenue will be ~$60.17B (26.63% YoY growth) while EPS will be $7.13 (-0.14% YoY growth).
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
META EPS Surprise History
Meta has consistently beaten Wall Street expectations. The company has beaten Zacks Consensus Estimates for 13 consecutive quarters while beating them by an average of 12.31% over the past four.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
META Implied Post-EPS Options Move
The options market is currently pricing in a post-earnings report move of +/- 7.3% in Meta shares.
META Stock Performance
Meta shares are -15.2% over the past year, underperforming the S&P 500’s 18.6% gain.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Valuation
Meta shares are reasonably priced. Currently, Meta trades at ~20x earnings, below the 10-year average of 26.9x.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
META Earnings: What to Watch
· AI CAPEX: Like many big tech giants, META’s capital expenditures have been soaring as the company jockeys for AI dominance. Currently, 2026 full-year CAPEX is expected to be between $125-$145 billion. Lately, Wall Street has been punishing companies like Google and Tesla for higher CAPEX. However, if Meta can illustrate enough of a positive revenue impact from ad spend, Wall Street may overlook higher spend.
· AI Infrastructure Partnerships: Meta is in the process of monetizing its massive cloud and compute capacity.Wall Street rumors are swirling about a potential multi-billion-deal with AI leader Anthropic. Such an announcement would be bullish for the stock.
· Reality Labs: Meta’s hardware and metaverse division has been a money pit for the company. Investors will be watching to see if there is any improvement here.
Bottom Line
Meta will report after Wednesday’s closing bell. While heavy AI spending has been a point of contention, Meta’s strong ad-targeting performance and low valuation make for a must-watch report.