Meta Platforms has delivered extraordinary gains for early investors, with its share price up approximately 1,520% since its 2012 debut. This performance has outstripped the S&P 500 by more than 1,000 percentage points through mid-January 2026, underscoring the company’s transition from a scrappy start-up to a cornerstone of long-term growth portfolios.

The company invested $39 billion in capital expenditures on data centers and infrastructure in 2024, and CFO Susan Li guided that 2025 spending will reach roughly $71 billion at the midpoint. Management forecasts even larger capex dollar growth in 2026, signaling CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s conviction that artificial intelligence will drive the next phase of user engagement and revenue expansion.

As of the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, Meta’s family of apps—Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads—reported 3.54 billion daily active users. During the same period, executives highlighted that AI-powered recommendations and chat features boosted time spent per user by high single-digit percentages, reinforcing the platform’s network effects and appeal to advertisers.

Through the first nine months of fiscal 2025, Meta generated $141.1 billion in revenue and $37.7 billion in net income, fueling free cash flow that underpins its AI investments. In Q3, advertising sales accounted for 98% of revenue—$50 billion—supported by its Advantage+ AI tools, which management says have reduced campaign costs by up to 15% for key clients. Wall Street forecasts compound annual EPS growth of 11.6% from 2024 to 2027, with a forward price-to-earnings multiple near 21, positioning Meta as a core holding for investors seeking sustained profit growth.