Meta’s heavy AI spending is boosting ad revenue — and the company is only getting more profitable in the process.

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram continues to exceed expectations for ad sales. Analysts are less sure about its big swings.

Zuckerberg makes a case for a type of “personal superintelligence” that people can use to achieve their individual goals.

Meta Platforms also reported earnings after Wednesday’s close. Coming into the earnings, the option market had priced the straddle at 42 points, or 6% of the stock price. That straddle price was cheaper than six of the past 10 post-earnings moves by Meta — meaning that the odds were theoretically slightly in favor of buying the straddle.

Stocks opened higher Thursday, powered by record highs from four key tech stocks and blowout earnings from Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) . Microsoft's market capitalization topped $4 trillion for the first time,