Meta shares surge 15% after Facebook parent beats earnings estimates

Shares of Facebook parent company Meta continued to rally Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected profit in the first quarter.

Meta reported earnings per share of $2.72, higher than the $2.56 expected by analysts. However, revenue came in at $27.91 billion, lower than estimates.

Meta's stock rose 15% Thursday morning. It's still down about 40% since the start of 2022, alongside a raft of other tech stocks that plunged amid concerns over rising inflation, the Ukraine war and a return of Covid lockdowns in China.

Expectations were relatively low going into Meta's latest quarterly results, which were a mixed bag.

It comes after the company shocked investors in February when it posted a disappointing fourth-quarter report, which showed daily active users falling for the first time on record.

Meta on Thursday said its daily active users rose slightly in the first quarter, to 1.96 billion from 1.93 billion.

The firm, which changed its group name from Facebook last year, is spending heavily to make CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vision for the "metaverse" — a hypothetical digital world incorporating work, leisure and commerce — a reality.

At the same time, the company is facing growing competition from Chinese short-form video platform TikTok.

Meta's first-quarter sales rose 7% from a year ago, marking the first time in its 10-year history as a public company that revenue grew in the single digits.

The company said it expects revenue within the range of $28 billion to $30 billion for the second quarter. If it hits the middle of that range, it would mark the first-ever drop in quarterly turnover year-on-year.