Meta’s result exceeded expectations, but the number of visitors was a little disappointing

Facebook’s parent company Meta Platformsin turnover and profit increased from last year. The company’s turnover was almost in line with analysts’ expectations, but the result was clearly better.

In July-September, the company’s net sales increased to 40.6 billion dollars from 34.1 billion dollars last year, and the operating profit increased to 17.4 billion dollars from 13.8 billion dollars.

The analysts’ consensus expectation for the company’s turnover, collected by Factset, was $40.4 billion and for the operating profit was $16 billion.

Earnings per share increased to $6.03 from $4.39. Analysts were expecting $5.27.

Meta expects fourth-quarter revenue to be between $45 billion and $48 billion.

The result was announced after Wall Street’s stock exchanges closed, but the company’s stock fell sharply in the aftermarket.

The number of daily active users increased by five percent from last year and was 3.29 billion in September 2024. The number of users was slightly lower than analysts’ expectations.

The company’s capital expenditures, a large part of which goes to AI-related infrastructure, were $9.2 billion, while in the second quarter, investments were $8.5 billion.

According to Meta, its fiscal 2024 total expense forecast range is $96 billion to $98 billion, down from a previous forecast of $96 billion to $99 billion.

Regarding capital expenditures, the company slightly raised the lower limit of expectations. the company expects capital expenditures to be between $38 billion and $40 billion this year, down from a range of $37 billion to $40 billion.

“We had a good quarter thanks to advances in artificial intelligence in our applications and business,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg says in the announcement.

“We also have strong momentum with Meta AI, Llama adoption and AI powered glasses.”

The business losses of Reality Labs, which develops Meta’s virtual glasses, are expected to increase this year compared to last year, due to product development efforts and investments.

According to the company, it is actively monitoring regulation, including increasing legal and regulatory headwinds in the EU and the US, which could significantly affect the company’s business and financial results.