Three of the largest US technology and car companies reported quarterly results after the closing bell on Wednesday, and all three beat analyst forecasts.
Meta's record quarter and a $10 billion charge
Meta Platforms earned $3.83 per share, above the $3.45 analysts expected, on revenue of $64.6 billion. That was the company's highest quarterly revenue, up 26% from a year earlier. Profit was held back by a $10 billion charge, part of an $18 billion settlement with US states over social media addiction among young people.
Meta raised revenue guidance for the current quarter to a range of $73 billion to $76 billion. It also said it expects $135 billion to $145 billion in capital spending on AI infrastructure, and announced a two-for-one stock split. Shares rose about 3.9% in late trading.
Tesla's margins and robotaxi miles
Tesla reported earnings of $0.48 per share, three cents above estimates, on revenue of $28.05 billion against a forecast of $27.78 billion. Automotive gross margin, excluding electric vehicle credits, came in at 18.1%. Paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions rose 67% to 1.74 million.
The company said its robotaxi service has now driven 2 million miles without a supervisor in the car, and that production of its Optimus humanoid robot has started at the Fremont plant in California. Chief executive Elon Musk also raised the idea of a possible merger between Tesla and SpaceX, whose quarterly results jumped.
IBM and Texas Instruments
IBM earned $2.95 per share against a $2.88 consensus, on revenue of $17.10 billion that beat the $16.87 billion forecast. Software and infrastructure both came in ahead of expectations, and the company guided to full-year revenue growth of 4% to 5%. Shares gained 3.5% after hours.
Texas Instruments posted $2.62 per share versus $2.40 expected, with revenue of $6.06 billion above the $5.93 billion estimate. Its analog business beat on both sales and guidance. Investors sold the news, and the stock slipped slightly after a 64% gain this year.
The common thread is spending. AI data centres are still absorbing enormous capital, and investors are rewarding companies that can show revenue growing alongside it. Meta's higher capex figure drew the most attention, because it lands in a quarter when the company also absorbed a large legal charge.