---
title: "Meta lost $145 billion. The AI builders lost more."
description: "Meta beat on revenue, raised its spending plan, and fell more than 7% anyway, its third straight post-earnings drop of at least 5%. The selling ran straight down the supply chain, and Bloom Energy dropped 8.70% hours before printing the best quarter in its history."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Data Center"
published: 2026-10-22T21:14:51.073Z
modified: 2026-10-22T21:14:51.073Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/meta-lost-145-billion-the-ai-builders-lost-more
language: en
keywords: "Meta, Earnings, AI Capex, Data Centers, Bloom Energy"
---

# Meta lost $145 billion. The AI builders lost more.

> Meta beat on revenue, raised its spending plan, and fell more than 7% anyway, its third straight post-earnings drop of at least 5%. The selling ran straight down the supply chain, and Bloom Energy dropped 8.70% hours before printing the best quarter in its history.

[Meta](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/meta)'s quarter was good. Revenue rose 26% to $64.6 billion, ahead of the $63.3 billion analysts expected, and earnings of $3.83 a share beat the $3.56 forecast [1][2]. The stock [fell more than 7% anyway](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/article/meta-stock-drops-more-than-7-despite-strong-q3-results-as-ai-spending-fears-return-193128008.html), erasing about $145 billion of market value: a third straight post-earnings drop of at least 5%, a first since Meta's 2012 IPO [1][2].

The cash flow was the problem. Meta spent $34.91 billion on capital expenditures in the quarter against $32.79 billion of operating cash flow, leaving free cash flow at minus $2.12 billion, [its first cash-burn quarter in three years](https://theinference.org/article/meta-burned-cash-for-the-first-time-in-three-years-then-minted-stock-only-zuckerberg-s-entities-approved) [3][4]. It [narrowed 2026 capex guidance to between $135 billion and $145 billion](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001326801), roughly double the $69.7 billion it spent in 2025 [4]. On top sits $825 billion of commitments for cloud capacity, energy service agreements and hardware [2].

*Chart: **Capex outran Meta's operating cash for the first time in three years** Column chart comparing Meta's quarterly operating cash flow and capital expenditures from Q2 2023 to Q3 2026. Capital spending rises from about $6 billion to $34.91 billion and passes operating cash flow, $32.79 billion, for the first time in three years in Q3 2026.*

*Quarterly operating cash flow versus capital expenditures, US$ billions, reported GAAP. Q2 2023 to Q2 2026 from Meta's SEC filings; Q3 2026 from Meta's third-quarter report. [3][4][13]*

## Credit markets priced it before stocks did

"He's not going to have the cash flow to support it. So he's going to have to raise capital, both debt and equity," Gil Luria, head of technology research at D.A. Davidson, said of CEO [Mark Zuckerberg](https://theinference.org/markets/people/mark-zuckerberg) [1]. The equity leg is already moving: alongside the results, Meta unveiled [a new class of nonvoting shares it can sell to raise money](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/investors-are-punishing-big-techs-biggest-spenders-meta-is-the-latest-casualty-174236447.html) [1].

The debt market agreed. Five-year credit default swaps on Meta, the price of insuring its debt against default, [widened 7.6 basis points on Thursday to a record 114.79](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/meta-s-credit-risk-indicator-hits-record-high-on-increased-ai-spending-plan/ar-AA2fQeSZ), the biggest one-day jump since at least 2025 [5]. [Amazon](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/amazon)'s swaps sat near their highest since March 2020, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was set to erase more than $744 billion of market value on the day [5].

## The sellers reached the turbine makers

[GE Vernova](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/ge-vernova), which makes the gas turbines and grid gear behind data centers, fell 10.64%, even with major earnings growth expected at next week's report [6]. [Quanta Services](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/quanta-services), which builds the power grid, fell 8.94% [on a target cut whose authors still see about 30% upside](https://finance.yahoo.com/m/6860d990-471e-3d0a-954d-1e25dbe4f10f/quanta-stock-falls-on-target.html) [7]. [Vertiv](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/vertiv), which supplies data center power and cooling, fell 7.81%, Caterpillar lost 4.91%, and [Bloom Energy](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/bloom-energy) fell 8.70% [8][9].

*Chart: **One session repriced Meta's entire power supply chain** Bar chart of intraday declines on October 22, 2026: GE Vernova down 10.64%, Quanta Services 8.94%, Bloom Energy 8.70%, Vertiv 7.81%, Meta 7.75%*

*Intraday declines on October 22, 2026, from quote panels published between about 9:40 am and 3:40 pm EDT, not closing prices; Caterpillar also fell 4.91%. [2][6][7][8][9]*

What the session repriced was the buyers' balance sheets, and every listed company that bills them traded on it.

## A record quarter, printed into the selloff

After the close, Bloom delivered the best quarter in its history. Revenue was $1,235.8 million, up 138.1% from a year earlier [10]. Gross margin rose 453 basis points to 33.8% [10]. Bloom [raised full-year revenue guidance to between $4.4 billion and $4.6 billion](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261022048400/en), its third increase of 2026 [11]. Net income was $250.3 million, against a $23.1 million loss a year earlier [11].

Nothing in those numbers explains the 8.70% drop that preceded them. Bloom came into the print with a warning attached: one customer was 73% of its record second quarter, [as The Inference reported this morning](https://theinference.org/article/one-buyer-was-73-of-bloom-energy-s-record-quarter-tonight-s-report-has-to-repeat-it). Thursday's selloff marked down the buyers' capacity to keep funding orders like that one, and the record quarter arrived anyway.

*Chart: **Bloom posted its biggest quarter hours after an 8.7% selloff** Column chart of Bloom Energy quarterly revenue from Q4 2023 to Q3 2026, rising from $235 million to $1,236 million, with the final bar highlighted*

*Quarterly revenue, US$ millions, reported GAAP. Q3 2026 from the October 22, 2026, release; earlier quarters from SEC filings. [11][12]*

## The bulls and the dates that decide it

The other side kept its case. Analysts stayed positive on Muse, Meta's AI assistant, which Zuckerberg says will be "highly profitable over multiple years" if compute efficiency keeps improving [1][2]. Luria still counts Meta as "gaining share from Google," with ad sales growing in the 20s [1]. Bloom's chief executive, [KR Sridhar](https://theinference.org/markets/people/kr-sridhar), says demand that "began with hyperscalers" is "rapidly moving across market segments" [11].

The next readings sit outside Meta's earnings calendar. GE Vernova reports before the open on October 28, with [five straight quarters of missed EBIT estimates behind it](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/ge-vernova-sinks-11-vertiv-134456087.html) [9]. Meta's credit default swaps, at a record on Thursday [5], are now the daily check on whether the money for the build-out actually arrives.

## Takeaway

Meta's first cash-burn quarter in three years turned an earnings beat into a $145 billion rout that hit every company selling power and gear into the AI build-out, hours before Bloom Energy posted a record quarter.

## Sources

1. [Yahoo Finance, Jared Blikre, "Investors are punishing Big Tech's biggest spenders. Meta is the latest casualty.", 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/investors-are-punishing-big-techs-biggest-spenders-meta-is-the-latest-casualty-174236447.html)
2. [Yahoo Finance, Daniel Howley, "Meta stock drops more than 7% despite strong Q3 results as AI spending fears return", 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/article/meta-stock-drops-more-than-7-despite-strong-q3-results-as-ai-spending-fears-return-193128008.html)
3. [Vizaca, "Meta Q3 2026 Earnings: $64.6 Billion in Revenue, but a Legal Charge Hits Profit", 22 October 2026](https://www.vizaca.com/business/meta-q3-2026-earnings/)
4. [Meta Platforms, quarterly and annual figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 22 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001326801)
5. [Reuters (via MSN), "Meta's credit risk indicator hits record high on increased AI spending plan", 22 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/meta-s-credit-risk-indicator-hits-record-high-on-increased-ai-spending-plan/ar-AA2fQeSZ)
6. [Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo Finance, Harriet Weber, "GE Vernova Stock Plunges 10%. Is Meta To Blame?", 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/m/bcaf52d9-bcc3-3cc3-bc89-538e5ae7e4fb/ge-vernova-stock-plunges-10-.html)
7. [Barron's via Yahoo Finance, Ty Roush, "Quanta Stock Falls on Target Cut, but Analysts See 30% Upside", 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/m/6860d990-471e-3d0a-954d-1e25dbe4f10f/quanta-stock-falls-on-target.html)
8. [Barron's via Yahoo Finance, Al Root, "GE Vernova Stock Is Down 10%. Blame Meta.", 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/m/e4c2f7ec-18d9-36a7-aeb7-f9dba40251f8/ge-vernova-stock-is-down-10-.html)
9. [Yahoo Finance, Roxanna Maglangit, "GE Vernova Sinks 11%, Vertiv 14%, Bloom Energy 15% in a Week as AI Power Stocks Slide", 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/ge-vernova-sinks-11-vertiv-134456087.html)
10. [Business Wire, "Bloom Energy Reports Record Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Raises Full Year 2026 Guidance", 22 October 2026](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261022048400/en)
11. [FinancialContent (Business Wire release), "Bloom Energy Reports Record Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Raises Full Year 2026 Guidance", 22 October 2026](https://www.financialcontent.com/article/bizwire-2026-10-22-bloom-energy-reports-record-third-quarter-2026-financial-results-and-raises-full-year-2026-guidance)
12. [Bloom Energy, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 22 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001664703)
13. [Meta, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 22 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001326801)


---

Meta lost $145 billion. The AI builders lost more. — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/meta-lost-145-billion-the-ai-builders-lost-more