Dave Jimenez
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) shares fell 4.9% to 582.9 on July 2, 2026, as investors weighed the company's plan to spend up to 145 billion dollars on AI infrastructure against its ad driven revenue base.
| Price | 582.9 USD |
|---|---|
| Day change | -30.01 (-4.9%) |
| 52-week range | 540.18 – 691.52 |
| Market cap | $1.48T |
| P/E ratio | 24.31 |
| EPS (ttm) | 23.98 |
| Dividend yield | 0.36% |
| RSI (14) | 50.04 |
| Volume | 21,750,522 |
Capex Jump Rattles a Stock Built on Advertising
The social media giant intends to put between 125 billion and 145 billion dollars into capital expenditures in 2026, mostly for data centers and AI infrastructure. That upper figure is roughly double the 72 billion dollars spent last year. Meta's market capitalization now sits at 1.48 trillion dollars, and the stock trades at a trailing P/E of 24.31 on earnings per share of 23.98. The 52 week range runs from 540.18 to 691.52, meaning shares are trading closer to the midpoint of that band after today's drop, well off the highs but still above the floor set earlier in the cycle.
Almost all of that spending traces back to a single priority: advertising. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has framed AI recommendation systems, business messaging, the Meta AI assistant and AI hardware as growth avenues, but he has been explicit that improving ad targeting and automation sits above the rest. His stated aim is a system where advertisers simply name an objective and a price they will pay per result, and Meta's models handle the rest. Ad sales totaled 55 billion dollars in the first quarter, or 98% of total revenue, underscoring how little diversification exists outside that core business.
Valuation, Momentum (RSI) and Yield on Meta Platforms
Meta's RSI reads 50.04, a neutral reading that signals neither overbought nor oversold conditions following the day's selloff. The dividend yield stands at 0.36%, a modest return that confirms Meta remains a growth and reinvestment story rather than an income vehicle. A P/E of 24.31 is not extreme for a company generating this level of ad revenue growth, but it does leave less room for error given the capex trajectory.
The bull case rests on Q1 numbers: ad impressions rose 19% year over year, average price per ad climbed 12%, and total revenue grew 33% versus the same quarter in 2025, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2021. If AI driven targeting keeps pushing pricing power and impression volume higher, the capex outlay could compound into structurally higher ad revenue per user. The bear case is straightforward: shares are down 15% in 2026 through June 29 and 29% off their record high, and a near doubling of capex spending raises the bar for what
Carlos Dixon
