Meta Platforms shares jumped more than 6% Thursday after the company topped earnings expectations and showed advertising resilience in a murky macroeconomic environment.

“Key here is that Meta’s adv. demand trends appear to be relatively healthy and while we’re watching for any impacts from macro and lower spend from China-based advertisers given the de minimis change, Meta’s scale of users and advertisers + focus on newer products are offsetting some macro challenges,” wrote Citi’s Ronald Josey.

First-quarter revenues grew 16% from a year ago to $42.31 billion and topped a $41.10 billion estimate from LSEG. Earnings came in at $6.43 per share, versus the $5.28 per share expectation. Net income reached $16.64 billion, jumping 35% from $12.37 billion in the year-ago quarter.

The company also issued in-line guidance for the current period. Meta’s finance chief Susan Li said the company expects sales to range between $42.5 billion and $45.5 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had forecast $44.03 billion in revenues.

“Our business is also performing very well, and I think we’re well positioned to navigate the macroeconomic uncertainty,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reassured analysts on an earnings call Wednesday.

Investors this earnings season are watching for signs that President Donald Trump‘s tariff blit hampering advertising demand — where many technology businesses make up a sizeable chunk of revenues. Snap and Google have already warned of potential headwinds to their ad businesses.

Advertising revenue for the first quarter came in at $41.39 billion, topping a forecast of $40.44 billion from Wall Street. But Li told analysts that Meta has “seen some reduced spend in the U.S. from Asia-based e-commerce exporters,” which may stem from the ending of the de minimis trade loophole on Friday.

“The digital ad market is likely to get a bit jittery over coming months, but META’s performance orientation and significant AI ad investments should mean continued relative share gains against the field,” wrote Barclays analyst Ross Sandler.

Meta also upped its capital expenditures range to $64 billion to $72 billion from $60 billion to $65 billion to reflect more data center investments in artificial intelligence and a potential uptick in infrastructure hardware costs as trade uncertainty continues.

Bernstein’s Mark Shmulik called the hike in spending a “bold strategy” against an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, but called Meta the “safest and most exciting dodgeball team around.”

“We continue to believe that Meta is well positioned for a tougher macro environment given its scaled advertiser base, highly performant platform, & vertical agnostic inventory,” wrote JPMorgan’s Doug Anmuth.

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Shares of Tesla were flat in premarket trading Thursday after the EV maker denied a Wall Street Journal report that its board was searching for a replacement for chief executive Elon Musk.

The report, citing comments from sources familiar with the discussions, said that Tesla’s board members reached out to several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding the company’s next CEO. Shares of Tesla fell as much as 3% in overnight trading on trading platform Robinhood following the news, before paring losses.

Tesla chair Robyn Denholm wrote on the social media platform X that the report was “absolutely false.”

“Earlier today, there was a media report erroneously claiming that the Tesla Board had contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company,” she wrote.

“This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published). The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.”

It comes after a sharp drop in the electric vehicle giant’s sales and profits, with its top and bottom lines missing estimates in the first quarter. Musk has admitted that his involvement with the Trump administration could be hurting the automaker’s stock price.

The mega-billionaire said on a Tesla earnings call last week that he plans to spend just a “day or two per week” running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency beginning in May.

Tesla’s total revenue slipped 9% year-on-year to hit $19.34 billion in the January-March quarter. This falls short of the $21.11 billion forecast by analysts, LSEG data shows.

Revenue from its automotive segment declined 20% year-on-year to $14 billion, as the company needed to update lines at its four vehicle factories to start making a refreshed version of its popular Model Y SUV. Tesla also attributed the decline to lower average selling prices and sales incentives as a drag on revenue and profit.

Its net income plunged 71% to $409 million, or 12 cents a share, from $1.39 billion or 41 cents a year ago.

Since the start of the year, its shares have plunged over 30%.

— CNBC’s Dan Mangan and Laura Kolodny contributed to this report.

Chinese online retailers have cut back their spending on Facebook and Instagram ads in reaction to President Donald Trump’s tough trade policy with the country.

Meta’s finance chief Susan Li said Wednesday that “Asia-based e-commerce exporters” have reduced their spending with the social media company. It’s likely those firms did so as they prepare for the de minimis trade loophole ending this Friday, Li said during a first-quarter earnings call.

“A portion of that spend has been redirected to other markets, but overall spend for those advertisers is below the levels prior to April,” Li said.

Trump in early April signed an executive order to end the de minimis trade exemptions for Chinese imports, which benefited online retailers like Temu and Shein. Analysts have said they believe that Temu and Shein make up the bulk of Meta’s 2024 China-related sales of $18.35 billion.

Meta’s advertising sales in the Asia-Pacific region were $8.22 billion for the first quarter, the company said. That was below Wall Street projections of $8.42 billion.

Li said that Meta’s second-quarter revenue would come in the range of $42.5 billion to $45.5 billion, which was in line with analysts expectations of $44.03 billion.

“It’s very early, hard to know how things will play out over the quarter, and certainly, harder to know that for the rest of the year,” Li said.

This echoes what Google said last week during its earnings call, warning that it expects headwinds to its advertising business, particularly from the Asia-Pacific region. Similarly, Snap on Tuesday said it had “experienced headwinds to start the current quarter.”

Trump’s China tariffs of 145% also appear to be impacting Meta’s Reality Labs unit, which creates virtual reality and augmented reality devices.

Reality Labs had an operating loss of $4.2 billion while bringing in $412 million in sales during the first quarter.

Meta said its 2025 capital expenditures will come in the range of $64 billion to $72 billion, which is higher than its prior outlook of $60 billion to $65 billion.

“This updated outlook reflects additional data center investments to support our artificial intelligence efforts as well as an increase in the expected cost of infrastructure hardware,” the company said in the earnings release.

Regarding the higher costs of infrastructure hardware, Li told analysts that it’s the result of “suppliers who source from countries around the world.” The higher cost of infrastructure hardware and “higher expected Reality Labs cost of goods sold” has “partially offset” Meta’s lowered projected range for its 2025 total expense, she said.

“There’s just a lot of uncertainty around this, given the ongoing trade discussions,” said Li, adding that Meta is modifying its supply chain as a result.

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