Meta shares soar despite reported slow first quarter growth

theguardian.com:

Meta shares soared in after hours trading on Wednesday, despite the company reporting slow revenue growth amid global economic uncertainties and the war in Ukraine.

The company’s reported total revenue rose 7% to $27.91bn in the first quarter, the bulk of it coming from ad sales. That number missed analysts’ estimates of $28.20bn, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The report on Wednesday comes as the Facebook parent company continues a major rebrand of its products and shake-ups to its business model. Its chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, has announced the Meta will focus more heavily on the metaverse, a virtual reality platform, rather than its core social media business.

Meta lost a record $230bn in market value following a disappointing earnings report in February in which it revealed that Facebook had recorded its first-ever drop in daily user numbers.

The company’s first quarter earnings for 2022 represents a slight recovery, with daily active users (DAUs) on Facebook now slightly above analyst estimates.

Reuters contributed to this report. This story is developing.