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Meta Platforms (META) reports Q4 2025 earnings on January 28th amid one of the most dramatic strategic pivots in the company's history. The social media giant is simultaneously retreating from its metaverse ambitions (cutting over 1,000 Reality Labs jobs) while aggressively scaling AI-powered smart glasses that have become unexpected runaway hits.
Despite a string of consistent earnings beats, META is currently trading near $620, down more than 10% over the last few months. This recent slide has caused the stock to dramatically underperform the S&P 500 over the past year.
This weakness reflects investor anxiety that massive AI infrastructure spending will overwhelm near-term profitability, a concern that dominated October's earnings, when shares plunged 11% despite beating estimates.
For traders navigating Meta's characteristically volatile earnings moves, Direxion's Daily META Bull 2X Shares (METU) and Daily META Bear 1X Shares (METD) offer tactical tools to amplify exposure or hedge risk without requiring a margin account or options* approval.
Q4 2025 Earnings Expectations
Wall Street expects Meta to report earnings of $8.29 per share, representing modest 3.4% growth from $8.02 in Q4 2024. For full-year fiscal 2025, analysts project $29.40 per share, up 23.2% from $23.86 in fiscal 2024. The company has beaten bottom-line estimates in each of the past four quarters, with surprise margins ranging from 9.7% to 23.2%.
However, beats haven't translated into stock gains. October's Q3 earnings of $7.25 exceeded the $6.61 estimate by 9.7%, yet shares crashed 11.3% as management outlined accelerating capital expenditure plans.Â
This disconnect captures the essence of the debate: can Meta's AI infrastructure investments, estimated at $40+ billion annually, generate returns that justify their massive cost?
​​Analysts Remain Bullish Despite Fractured Strategic Performance
Meta's announcement of 1,000+ job cuts (roughly 10% of Reality Labs) marks the clearest acknowledgment that the metaverse bet hasn't panned out. Since CEO Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta in 2021, Reality Labs has hemorrhaged over $70 billion in cumulative losses while failing to achieve mainstream VR headset adoption. The division is now "leaner and smaller," with resources redirected toward AI assistants embedded in wearable devices rather than bulky headsets.
While Meta retreats from the metaverse, its AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses have become an unexpected success. Reports indicate Meta is negotiating with partner EssilorLuxottica to double production capacity to 20 million units annually by end of 2026.Â
Meta holds a commanding 73% share of the global smart glasses market, with the new $799 Ray-Ban Meta Display glasses featuring in-lens screens and neural wristbands that enable hand gesture control. Demand has been so strong that Meta paused planned UK and Canada expansions due to supply constraints, with U.S. waitlists extending well into 2026.
Yet management's commitment to $40+ billion in annual capital expenditures for data centers, AI chips, and infrastructure creates the core tension weighing on shares. October's Q3 stock crash despite strong earnings, illustrated how sensitive shares have become to capex guidance. Any February 4 update suggesting continued spending acceleration could trigger another selloff regardless of Q4 results.
Wall Street's "Strong Buy" consensus (with 44 of 55 analysts rating shares "Strong Buy") reflects confidence in eventual payoff.Â
Trading META Earnings With Direxion's Leveraged Single-Stock ETFs
Meta's combination of consistent earnings beats, spending concerns, and implied volatility of 41%, nearly double its 21% historical volatility, creates conditions where leveraged instruments can be particularly effective for traders with directional conviction.
Bullish Trade: METU
The Direxion Daily META Bull 2X Shares (METU) seeks 200%, before fees and expenses, of Meta's daily performance through financial instruments.
- Targets 200% of META's daily performance
- When Meta rises 1%, METU aims for a 2% gain (before fees)
- When Meta falls 1%, METU typically drops 2% (before fees)
- Suitable for traders expecting Q4 beats, positive fiscal 2026 guidance, or belief that smart glasses momentum offsets metaverse losses
- Launched June 5, 2024, capturing Meta's recent volatility
- Average daily volume: 2.5 million shares
- Currently trading around $29.23, designed for traders betting Ray-Ban success and AI infrastructure investments will drive positive reaction
Bearish Hedge: METD
The Direxion Daily META Bear 1X Shares (METD) provides inverse exposure to Meta. Note that METD seeks -100% (1X inverse) of META’s daily performance, before fees and expenses, not -200%, making it less aggressive than some other inverse products.
- Seeks inverse (-1X) daily performance versus META
- When Meta drops 1%, METD aims for a 1% gain (before fees)
- When Meta rises 1%, METD typically falls 1% (before fees)
- Valuable for traders concerned about continued capex acceleration, Reality Labs drag, or smart glasses execution risk
- Allows portfolio hedging without short-selling restrictions in retirement accounts
- Average daily volume: 206,260 shares
- Provides defined-risk bearish exposure during elevated uncertainty around spending trajectory
Both METU and METD reset their exposure daily and are designed for short-term trading rather than buy-and-hold positions. The funds will lose money if Meta Platforms’ performance is flat over extended periods, and compounding effects mean multi-day returns will differ, sometimes significantly, from simple multiples of Meta Platforms’ performance.
Meta Platforms stands at a crossroads. The metaverse vision that drove the 2021 rebranding has clearly failed, costing over $70 billion. The pivot to AI wearables shows genuine product-market fit with Ray-Ban smart glasses, but the $40+ billion annual AI infrastructure bet could either position Meta as a dominant AI platform or prove costly.Â
January 28 earnings will provide critical signals about Meta's path, making these leveraged and inverse ETFs particularly powerful tools for traders looking to trade with conviction around one of Big Tech's most consequential strategic pivots.
Investing in leveraged and inverse ETFs involves significant risk. These products are designed for short-term trading and should not be expected to track the underlying stock's performance over periods longer than a single day.
*Options:Â In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the holder, the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified date, depending on the style of the option.
*Short selling:Â Short-selling is a trading strategy where investors borrow shares and sell them, hoping the stock price will fall.
To learn more about all Direxion's Single Stock Leveraged and Inverse ETFS, Click Here
The Funds do not seek to achieve their stated investment objective for a period of time different than a trading day. Investing in a Direxion Shares ETF may be more volatile than investing in broadly diversified funds. The use of leverage by the Fund increases the risk to the Fund. The Direxion Shares ETFs are not suitable for all investors and should be utilized only by sophisticated investors who understand leverage risk and the consequences of seeking daily leveraged investment results and intend to actively monitor and manage their investment. Â
Investing in the funds involves a high degree of risk. Unlike traditional ETFs, or even other leveraged and/or inverse ETFs, these leveraged and/or inverse single-stock ETFs track the price of a single stock rather than an index, eliminating the benefits of diversification. Leveraged and inverse ETFs pursue daily leveraged investment objectives, which means they are riskier than alternatives which do not use leverage. They seek daily goals and should not be expected to track the underlying stock’s performance over periods longer than one day. They are not suitable for all investors and should be utilized only by investors who understand leverage risk and who actively manage their investments. The Funds will lose money if the underlying stock’s performance is flat, and it is possible that the Bull Fund will lose money even if the underlying stock’s performance increases, and the Bear Fund will lose money even if the underlying stock’s performance decreases, over a period longer than a single day. Investing in the Funds is not equivalent to investing directly in META.
An investor should carefully consider a Fund’s investment objective, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. A Fund’s prospectus and summary prospectus contain this and other information about the Direxion Shares. To obtain a Fund’s prospectus and summary prospectus call 866-476-7523 or visit our website at direxion.com. A Fund’s prospectus and summary prospectus should be read carefully before investing.
Meta Platforms, Inc. Investing Risk — Meta Platforms, Inc. is subject to a number of risks related to: its product offerings; business operations and financial results; government regulation and enforcement; the ability to collect and use consumer data; data, security and intellectual property; and the dual class structure of the company’s common stock, which limits the ability of shareholders to influence corporate matters.
Information Technology Sector Risk — The value of stocks of information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology is particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation, and competition, both domestically and internationally, including competition from competitors with lower production costs.
Interactive Media & Services Industry Risk — The prices of technology and media companies, especially those of smaller, less-seasoned companies, tend to be more volatile and less liquid than the overall market. These companies are subject to rapid changes in technology and consumer platform preference, including the increased use of mobile-based apps, competition for advertising revenue, changes in audience preferences, evolving industry standards and frequent new product productions.
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