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Meta EPS Preview: Can AI Monetization Justify Soaring CapEx?
Meta Platforms 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, Amazon and Snap. 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).
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.
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.
Valuation
Meta shares are reasonably priced. Currently, Meta trades at ~20x earnings, below the 10-year average of 26.9x.
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.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Amazon and Snap
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – July 29, 2026 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Meta Platforms (META - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) and Snap (SNAP - Free Report) .
Meta EPS Preview: Can AI Monetization Justify Soaring CapEx?
Meta Platforms 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, Amazon and Snap. 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).
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.
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.
Valuation
Meta shares are reasonably priced. Currently, Meta trades at ~20x earnings, below the 10-year average of 26.9x.
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.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
See Stocks Free >>
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.