ARK Invest’s Wood Buys $18m in Meta Ahead of Earnings

Cathie Wood, founder of ARK Invest, has purchased approximately $18.16 million worth of Meta Platforms shares ahead of the company’s scheduled July 29 earnings report. The transaction involved 28,106 shares, increasing Meta’s total weight across various ARK Invest funds to 7.8%. Wood cited Meta’s strong underlying business performance as the primary driver for the investment, specifically highlighting a 33% year-on-year increase in advertising revenue and improved user engagement metrics attributed to artificial intelligence initiatives.

Despite Meta’s stock declining 8% year-to-date and trading 21% below its 52-week high, market analysts maintain a predominantly positive outlook. Among 54 analysts covering the company, 44 hold a "Strong Buy" rating, with an average price target of $824.29. The investment decision follows Meta’s first-quarter results, which reported total revenue of $56.3 billion and operating income for the Family of Apps segment rising 24% to $26.9 billion.

Meta’s advertising business remains a key growth engine, with ad revenue reaching $55 billion in the first quarter. The company served 19% more ad impressions while simultaneously increasing the average price per advertisement by 12%. Management attributed this pricing strength to stronger engagement across its apps, improved advertiser performance, and healthier macroeconomic conditions, noting that AI systems have meaningfully improved how the platform understands users and content.

User engagement metrics have improved significantly, with total video watch time climbing more than 8% globally and time spent on Reels increasing by 10%. These gains contributed to earnings per share rising 62% to $10.44 in the first quarter. The company also generated more than $12 billion in free cash flow during the period, holding $81.2 billion in cash and marketable securities to support its ambitious strategy.

Looking ahead, Meta has increased its capital expenditure forecast for 2026 to between $125 billion and $145 billion, driven by investments in servers, data centres, and networking infrastructure. The company expects to begin manufacturing its custom Iris AI chip in September and plans to double its computing capacity to 14 gigawatts by 2027. Second-quarter revenue is projected between $58 billion and $61 billion, representing a roughly 25% year-on-year increase.