(April 25): A disappointing earnings report from Meta Platforms Inc has technology investors on edge ahead of results from some of the stock market’s biggest and most important companies in the coming days.

Shares of Facebook’s parent were down as much as 15% in premarket trading on Thursday and an exchange-traded fund that tracks the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index fell as much as 1%, after Meta forecast weaker-than-expected sales in the current quarter while targeting higher capital expenditures.

“While Meta will employ AI in its work, right now it doesn’t seem to be the biggest beneficiary of AI adoption,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors. “The disappointment on the revenue side is overshadowing any optimism about AI. It’s hard to tell what the benefit will be to users, and while AI could ultimately mean some cost savings down the line, that isn’t visible yet.”

Alphabet Inc, which reports earnings on Thursday along with Microsoft Corp, was among the biggest decliners, falling around 2.8%. Amazon.com Inc, which has results due on April 30, dropped more than 2.2%. Meanwhile, social media companies Snap Inc and Pinterest Inc slipped about 4%.

Meta’s earnings raise questions that go beyond its specific business to the heart of the broader AI investment thesis, according to analysts at Lynx Equity Strategies.

“For all of this attention on AI, why isn’t the company able to beat June expectations,” analysts KC Rajkumar and Jahanara Ahmed said. “Is the monetisation of gen AI on track with management’s expectations?”

Those concerns weighed on the shares of Nvidia Corp, the biggest beneficiary of spending on AI computing. The stock fell as much as 1.2% in premarket trading on Thursday.

Elsewhere in technology, International Business Machines Corp and software maker ServiceNow Inc added to the gloom as their shares slumped after their own earnings reports.

If the premarket declines hold, Meta is set to wipe out about US$160 billion (RM765.6 billion) in market capitalisation. Yet some analysts and investors see this as a buying opportunity.

“It’s a weakness that’s interesting to take advantage of,” Fares Hendi, portfolio manager at SG Prevoir said, adding that Meta was on his fund’s watch list. “Potentially it’s a fall which can create interesting entry points.”