Meta Platforms outlined full year 2026 capital expenditures that were higher than expectations, although a comfortable revenue and profit beat for the fourth quarter helped to assuage investor concerns over returns from the Facebook owner’s massive spending push on artificial intelligence.  

Shares of the Magnificent 7 member were up more than 8% in premarket trading on Thursday.

For the first quarter, the social media giant sees revenue of $53.5 billion to $56.5 billion, versus a consensus of $51.27 billion.

For the full year 2026, Meta sees capex of $115 billion to $135 billion and total expenses of $162 billion to $169 billion. The outlook for both metrics came in higher than the Street’s expectation of $110 billion and $150 billion, respectively, according to estimates compiled by Jefferies. 

Jefferies analyst Brent Thill a week ago said that even if Meta’s guidance for capex and expenses came in higher, it would not surprise investors. “(Management) has telegraphed elevated spend needs & typically issues initial guidance that lands above actual results,” Thill said.

The owner of WhatsApp and Instagram has been aggressively spending on its artificial intelligence infrastructure including billions in investments in data centers to support its AI products. Just on Tuesday, the tech behemoth announced a $6 billion agreement with Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) to supply fiber optic cables for its data centers.

The company said its full year 2026 capex guidance reflected increased investment to support its Superintelligence Labs efforts and core business.

Meanwhile, Meta said the majority of its expense growth in 2026 will be due to infrastructure costs, which includes third-party cloud spend and higher infrastructure operating expenses.

"There are some investors who are concerned that META is changing from an asset-light company to one that will require significant borrowing to meet those spending requirements, but the early response shows that those are taking a back seat to the positives on revenue, especially when the company was able to charge more for ads," Interactive Brokers’ Sosnick said.   

Meta’s latest results come at a time of muted performance for the stock, which has risen only about 2% year-to-date, in-line with the broader S&P 500 index. The stock ended 2025 with an advance of 12.7%, underperforming the benchmark gauge’s 16.4% climb, and placing fourth in terms of annual performance among its Magnificent 7 peers.

Meta earned $8.88 per share on revenue of $59.89 billion for the fourth quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.19 per share on revenue of $58.35 billion. 

"We had strong business performance in 2025. I’m looking forward to advancing personal superintelligence for people around the world in 2026," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.