Even with its aggressive capex spending and ongoing support of the unprofitable Reality Labs division, Meta can still afford to return a significant amount of capital to shareholders. In its latest quarter, it spent $13.4 billion on buybacks and $1.33 billion on dividends. (Meta began paying dividends last year.)

Meta Platforms joined artificial intelligence Goliath Microsoft in reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings results after the closing bell on April 30. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram,

U.S. technology-related stocks including many involved in artificial intelligence rose sharply on Thursday following stronger-than-expected results from Microsoft and Meta Platforms, while investors awaited results from Apple and Amazon.