Overview
- Meta will report third-quarter results after the market closes on Wednesday, Oct. 21, with analysts penciling in about $63.3 billion in revenue and roughly $6.60 in earnings per share.
- Advertising remains the engine of growth: Meta posted $60.8 billion in revenue in Q2, with ad impressions up 14% and average price per ad up 12%, and it reported 3.6 billion daily users.
- Capital spending has surged and is the central concern: the company expects $130 billion to $145 billion in 2026 capex, spent $31.08 billion in Q2, and saw free cash flow fall to about $784 million.
- Recent costs have cut into profit metrics, including an 8% decline in operating income that reflected a 55% rise in quarterly spending and one-time items such as $2.4 billion in legal charges and $1.18 billion in severance.
- Meta has rolled out new AI offerings, including the Muse Spark Open and enterprise tools, but those products have not yet produced measurable revenue and investors are comparing Meta to peers like Alphabet where cloud now drives material profit.