Meta posts sharply higher Q4 profit, revenue, topping Wall Street's expectations

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Meta Platforms Inc. posted sharply higher profit and revenue for its fourth quarter on Wednesday, thanks to higher ad revenue on its social media properties, sending its shares up in after-hours trading even as it forecast increasing expenses on its artificial intelligence efforts.

The Menlo Park, California-based company earned $20.83 billion, or $8.02 per share, in the October-December quarter. That's up 49% from $14.02 billion, or $5.33 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue grew 21% to $48.39 billion from $40.11 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $6.76 per share on revenue of $47 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

“We continue to make good progress on AI, glasses, and the future of social media,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement.

For the current quarter, Meta said expects revenue of $39.5 billion to $41.8 billion. Analysts are expecting revenue at the high end of that range — $41.68 billion.

The company also said it expects expenses in the range of $114 billion to $119 billion, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation. Meta had 74,067 employees as of Dec. 31, up 10% from a year earlier.

“Meta’s Q4 performance underscores the company’s resilience in a still-uncertain digital ad market. By beating both earnings and revenue estimates, they’ve demonstrated that cost discipline and efficiency gains are paying dividends,” said Jesse Cohen, an analyst with Investing.com. “However, the real headline is their commitment to aggressive capital expenditures. This signals Meta is doubling down on its AI infrastructure and metaverse ambitions, even as investors grapple with the costs.”

Meta's stock rose $13.53, or 2%, to $690.02 in after-hours trading.