Meta Platforms' shares plunged over 9% on April 30, 2026, closing at $607.13 after gapping down from the prior day's $669.12 close, primarily driven by the company's Q1 earnings report released after market close on April 29. While revenue surged 33% year-over-year to $56.31 billion—exceeding estimates—and net income rose 61% to $26.77 billion, traders reacted negatively to Meta's upward revision of its 2026 capital expenditures to $125-145 billion, up from $115-135 billion, to fuel aggressive artificial intelligence infrastructure investments amid intensifying competition with OpenAI, Google, and xAI. This capex escalation reignited concerns over profitability pressures in the AI arms race, compounded by warnings of potential material losses from youth social media regulatory scrutiny. With earnings now behind, focus shifts to AI model releases and developer ecosystem progress, though no major catalysts loom immediately.