Meta Platforms posted stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings Wednesday, as well as a boost in its overall user base, as the social media giant continues to invest billions in AI technologies to drive ad sales and customer growth.
Facebook parent Meta's (META) earnings for the three months ending in September were pegged at $6.03 a share, a 14.9% increase from the same period last year and firmly above analysts' consensus estimate of a $5.25 a share tally.
Group revenue rose 18.9% from a year earlier to $40.59 billion, nearly all of it from advertising sales, topping Wall Street forecasts of $40.3 billion. The revenue growth, however, slowed from the three months ended in June and was the weakest since the second quarter of last year.
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Daily Active People, a key metric the company employs to define users that interact with at least one of its family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, rose 4.8% from last year to 3.29 billion.
Looking into the fourth quarter, Meta estimated revenue in the region of $45 billion to $48 billion, while overall capital spending for the 2024 year would be held largely in line at between $38 billion to $40 billion.
Meta also said it expected a "significant" increase in capital expenditures for 2025.
"We had a good quarter driven by AI progress across our apps and business," said CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "We also have strong momentum with Meta AI, Llama adoption, and AI-powered glasses."
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Meta Platforms shares were marked 2.5% lower in after-hours trading immediately following the earnings release to indicate a Thursday opening bell price of $577, a move that would leave the stock up nearly 70% for the year.
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