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.)

Going into its first-quarter results, there was a worry about how reduced spending from China-based e-commerce exporters, such as Temu and Shein, would impact Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META). The reduction in ad spending from Chinese e-commerce exporters stems from both the current U.

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.