Meta and Amazon are burning through cash at a historic pace, but only one of them can show investors exactly when the bills stop and the returns begin.
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Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META | META Price Prediction) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported Q2 2026 results in late July. Both showed the same problem: record capex used up nearly all cash their core businesses produced. Advertising funds Meta’s AI buildout; AWS funds Amazon’s. Investors must judge whose spending turns into returns first.
Ad Clicks Pay Meta’s Bills. AWS Pays Amazon’s.
Meta’s ad engine is running hot. Ad revenue rose 27% to $59.36B, and average price per ad grew 12%. AI targeting improvements lifted Facebook conversions 15.7%. Operating margin slipped to 31% from 43%, and EPS of $6.18 missed the $7.22 estimate. Free cash flow fell to just $784M from $8.55B a year…
