Meta reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter as revenue increased 23%, the fastest rate of growth since 2021. The stock rose more than 4% in extended trading on Wednesday.
- Earnings: $4.39 per share vs $3.63 per share expected by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv.
- Revenue: $34.15 billion vs $33.56 billion expected by LSEG.
Investors are also looking at user numbers:
- Daily active users (DAUs): 2.09 billion vs 2.07 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
- Monthly active users (MAUs): 3.05 billion vs 3.05 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
- Average revenue per user (ARPU): $11.23 vs $11.05 expected, according to StreetAccount
Meta is seeing faster growth in its core digital ads business as clients rebound from a tough 2022, when revenue dropped for three straight quarters.
For the fourth quarter, Meta said it expects revenue of $36.5 billion to $40 billion. Analysts were expecting sales for the quarter of $38.85 billion, according to LSEG. At the mid-point of the range, growth in the quarter will be about 19% from a year earlier.
The company said it now has 3.9 billion monthly active people.
Meta said its total expense outlook for 2023 will be in the range of $87 billion to $89 billion, which is down from its previous forecast of $88 billion to $91 billion. Expenses for 2024 will fall in the range of $94 billion to $99 billion.
The social networking giant’s net income rose 164% year-over-year to $11.58 billion in the quarter.
“We had a good quarter for our community and business,” said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “I’m proud of the work our teams have done to advance AI and mixed reality with the launch of Quest 3, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and our AI studio.”
Meta’s Reality Labs division, which focusses on virtual reality and augmented reality technologies generated $3.74 billion in operating losses for the quarter. It’s now lost close to $25 billion since the start of last year.
Meta has 66,185 employees as of Sep. 30, which is a 24% year-over-year decrease. The company said “a substantial majority of the employees” who were part of its major cost-cutting efforts are no longer included in its headcount.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Refinitiv is now known as LSEG. A previous version of this story misspelled the company name.
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