Meta Stock Rises After Earnings Rise

Meta’s share price soared on Friday, adding hundreds of billions of dollars to the market value of the social media giant that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

The company said Thursday after the market closed that its latest quarterly profit more than tripled as it benefited from a rebound in digital ads. It also announced its first dividend and authorized an additional $50 billion in share buybacks.

Meta shares rose more than 20 percent on Friday, pushing them further into record territory. The company recently regained its trillion-dollar status and, due to its size, has a large influence on indexes such as the S&P 500, which gained about 1 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose even more, about 1.5 percent.

Friday’s rise added about $200 billion to Meta’s market value, about as much as the entire market capitalization of major multinational companies such as McDonald’s.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, called 2023 a “year of efficiency,” in which the company cut costs, in part by laying off tens of thousands of workers.

“What’s not to like?” Truist Securities analysts wrote in a research report. They said cost-cutting measures were “paying off” in the form of higher profit margins.

Wells Fargo analysts said they considered Meta’s heavy investments in artificial intelligence to be “an offensive game.” They said Meta’s earnings were a “stark contrast” to those of its main rival Alphabet, Google’s parent company, which reported earnings that fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Goldman Sachs researchers said it was unclear whether Meta could maintain its momentum, but the company’s successful results were enough “to put previous questions about the platform’s strength behind us.”