Meta posts Q3 earnings beat, but stock falls on heavy spending plans
Facebook parent company Meta (META) announced its fiscal third quarter earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday, beating analysts' expectations on the top and bottom lines. The company forecast Q4 revenue between $45 billion and $48 billion. Analysts were looking for $46.09 billion. The company also said it expects capital expenses to grow significantly in 2025.
Capital Expenditures Growth
The tech giant's stock fell on Thursday following the report. "We anticipate our full-year 2024 capital expenditures will be in the range of $38 billion-$40 billion, updated from our prior range of $37 billion-$40 billion," Meta CFO Susan Li said in a statement. "We continue to expect significant capital expenditures growth in 2025. Given this, along with the back-end weighted nature of our 2024 capital expenditures, we expect a significant acceleration in infrastructure expense growth next year as we recognize higher growth in depreciation and operating expenses of our expanded infrastructure fleet."
Financial Performance
For the third quarter, Meta saw earnings per share (EPS) of $6.03 on revenue of $40.5 billion. Wall Street was expecting EPS of $5.25 on revenue of $40.2 billion, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The company saw EPS of $4.50 and revenue of $34.1 billion in the same quarter last year.
Advertising revenue came in at $39.8 billion versus expectations of $39.7 billion, while Meta’s Reality Labs segment, which includes sales of its Quest augmented reality line of headsets, saw revenue of $270 million. Analysts were expecting the business to generate $312 million. The segment also posted a loss of $4.4 billion versus the $4.6 billion analysts had anticipated.
Artificial Intelligence and Investments
The social media giant has quickly become an artificial intelligence power in its own right, up there with the likes of Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Amazon (AMZN), and investors are on board for the ride. Meta’s AI strategy includes rolling out its Llama family of models across its consumer offerings and advertiser products. It’s also offering the platform as open-source software. To that end, Meta reported that organizations ranging from Accenture (ACN) and DoorDash (DASH) to Goldman Sachs (GS) are using Llama to develop their own AI software.
Recent Developments
Meta’s earnings follow a report by the Information that the company is working on its own search functionality for its Meta AI service that will allow users to ask questions and get answers about current events. The company is also coming off a successful Meta Connect conference, during which it debuted a working prototype of its Orion augmented reality glasses. The device, which is still in early development, is meant to serve as a pair of glasses that allow you to speak with other users via holograms projected onto the real world.
Challenges and Legal Issues
But all of that AI and hardware development costs some serious cash. Meta reported $9.2 billion in capital expenditures in the quarter. Beyond spending concerns, Meta is also facing a host of high-profile legal challenges, including an FTC antitrust lawsuit alleging the company acts as an illegal monopoly, as well as lawsuits claiming Meta is harmful to teens' mental health.
