10月30日：标普全球评级周五将Meta Platforms的展望从“稳定”下调至“负面”，理由是这家社交媒体巨头的资本支出和自由经营性现金流存在重大不确定性。
Oct 30 : S&P Global Ratings on Friday revised its outlook on Meta Platforms to "negative" from "stable", citing significant uncertainty around the social media giant's capital spending and free operating cash flow.
大型科技公司历来在云计算、在线广告和电子商务上投入巨资，但人工智能热潮将资本支出推向了令人眩晕的水平，引发投资者担忧该行业能否足够快地产生回报。
Big Tech has historically spent heavily on cloud computing, online advertising and e-commerce, but the AI boom has pushed capital expenditure to dizzying levels, stoking investor concerns about whether the sector can generate returns quickly enough.
上周，Meta在报告第三季度自由现金流赤字21.2亿美元后，预计全年资本支出将在1350亿至1450亿美元之间。Meta还计划利用公开市场，出售975亿美元股票以资助人工智能建设。
Last week, Meta forecast annual capital expenditure between $135 billion-$145 billion after reporting a free cash flow deficit of $2.12 billion in the third quarter. Meta is also planning to tap public markets and sell $97.5 billion in stock to fund the AI buildout.
标普表示，Meta将其人工智能投资变现的能力比同行更有限，并补充称，在未来几年内，其收入流何时能产生超过不断上升成本的实质性贡献尚不清楚。
Meta's ability to monetize its AI investments is more limited than that of its peers, S&P said, adding it was unclear when its revenue streams would generate material contributions exceeding their rising costs over the next few years.
标普现在预测，Meta将在2026年产生390亿美元的自由经营性现金流赤字，2027年产生710亿美元赤字。
S&P now forecasts Meta will generate FOCF deficits of $39 billion in 2026 and $71 billion in 2027.
该机构表示，高企的支出可能使自由经营性现金流在2028年后仍保持负值，并预计Meta将完全通过债务来弥补2028年的现金缺口。
The agency said elevated spending could keep FOCF negative beyond 2028 and expects Meta to fund its 2028 cash shortfall entirely with debt.
标普表示：“鉴于公司未来资本支出缺乏清晰度，且其多年人工智能投资计划极具野心，我们不如之前预期那样确定它会削减支出。”
"Given the lack of clarity around the company's future capex and its very ambitious multi-year AI investment plans, we are less certain that it will curtail its spending as previously anticipated," S&P said.
该评级机构表示，它认为Meta的杠杆率最早可能在2027年升至1.0倍以上，这是标普全球“AA-”发行人信用评级的门槛。
The ratings agency said it believes Meta's leverage could rise to above 1.0x as early as 2027, which is S&P Global's threshold for the "AA-" issuer credit rating.
“我们恭敬地不同意标普关于Meta人工智能变现能力的断言，”Meta发言人告诉路透社，并补充称公司看到“面前有重大的产品和商业机会，支持我们非常强劲的信用状况。”标普表示，Meta的杠杆率从2025年的0.1倍上升，主要是由于其租赁数据中心产能而非发行债务的策略。
"We respectfully disagree with S&P's assertion about Meta's AI monetization capabilities," a Meta spokesperson told Reuters, adding that the company sees "significant product and business opportunities ahead of us, supporting our very strong credit profile." Meta's leverage increased from 0.1x in 2025, primarily due to its strategy of leasing data-center capacity rather than issuing debt, S&P said.
“如果资本支出保持高位，且继续以快于我们预期的速度增长，信用状况将继续恶化，现金流将为负值，”标普全球评级美国媒体和电信行业主管纳文·萨尔马（Naveen Sarma）表示。该公司报告称，截至9月30日，长期债务为809.2亿美元。
"If capex remains elevated and continues to grow at a faster pace than we expect, credit profiles will continue to weaken and cash flows will be negative," Naveen Sarma, US media and telecom sector lead at S&P Global Ratings said. The company reported long-term debt of $80.92 billion as of September 30.
今年早些时候，标普因云计算巨头甲骨文（Oracle）资产负债表杠杆率过高，将其信用评级下调至“BBB-”，仅比“垃圾级”高一级。
Earlier this year, S&P lowered cloud computing giant Oracle's credit rating to "BBB-", one notch above "junk", due to its heavily leveraged balance sheet.