Stifel: Meta results signal continued AI infrastructure demand growth

Investing.com -- Stifel analysts said Meta Platforms' third-quarter 2026 results show AI infrastructure demand remains strong, with compute intensity and efficiency improvements acting as key factors in broader platform expansion.

Meta reported capital expenditures of $34.9 billion for the quarter, below the consensus estimate of $41.1 billion. The company narrowed its full-year 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $135 billion to $145 billion, up from the previous range of $130 billion to $145 billion. The consensus estimate stood at $139.2 billion.

Management said Meta's AI assistant platform Muse attracted more than 10 million users in the United States and Canada within approximately six weeks of launch. The company aims to scale the platform to more than one billion users in the coming years.

Meta said capacity limitations driven by compute availability remain a constraint. Management indicated AI demand continues to exceed infrastructure supply, with power, deployment speed, and capacity availability serving as bottlenecks.

The company is building capacity to support large-scale consumer AI, enterprise applications, business agents, and AI-enabled commerce. Meta expects total serving costs will continue to rise as Muse scales, despite anticipated gains in compute efficiency.

Management did not provide specific fiscal 2027 capital expenditure plans but stated the company will continue investing in data center and compute infrastructure. The investment will cover AI training, inference, enterprise services, and core advertising workloads.

Stifel maintains a Buy rating on Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR), trading at $176.31, and Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX), trading at $995. The firm suspended its rating on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), which trades at $697.52.

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