Meta and Microsoft Showcase Impressive Q4 Earnings Amidst Surge in AI Investments
Tech titans, Meta Platforms and Microsoft, unveiled their quarterly earnings on January 28, 2026. Both companies demonstrated a robust financial performance and a significant ramp-up in their investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Meta surpassed analyst expectations with earnings per share of $8.88, outperforming the $8.19 estimate by 8.42%. The social media behemoth’s Q4 revenue saw a 24% increase year-over-year, hitting $59.9 billion and exceeding the $58.35 billion forecast. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to potentially escalate capital expenditures to a staggering $135 billion, indicating an aggressive drive towards AI-powered advertising and shopping experiences.
Meanwhile, Microsoft reported a Q2 fiscal 2026 revenue of $81.27 billion, a 17% increase year-over-year, with net income skyrocketing 60% to $38.5 billion. Despite these impressive figures, the company’s stock experienced a 7% drop in after-hours trading due to a slight dip in Azure cloud growth at 39%, marginally below analyst expectations. Microsoft disclosed that it now has 15 million seats for its Microsoft 365 Copilot AI assistant. The company also invested $37.5 billion in capital expenditures and finance leases in the quarter, marking a 66% increase as it strives to expand AI data center capacity.
Both Meta and Microsoft are under increasing investor pressure to provide clear returns on their substantial AI investments. This comes as the tech industry shifts its focus from AI capabilities to proven monetization strategies.
Source: CNBC