Meta Q3 Financial Report: Revenue grew by 26%, meeting expectations, while the billion-dollar legal expenses and AI capital expenditures pose a dual challenge

Meta announced its third-quarter 2026 performance early this morning Beijing time, with revenue of $64.601 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26%, exceeding market consensus expectations (approximately $63.3 to $63.7 billion). Net profit was $9.860 billion, a year-on-year increase of 264%, with a GAAP diluted earnings per share of $3.83.

Operating profit decreased by 37% year-on-year to $12.988 billion, and the operating profit margin fell to about 20% (compared to about 40% in the same period last year), mainly due to a legal expense of $9.89 billion. This expense is related to the agreement reached with the attorneys general of various states in the U.S. regarding lawsuits related to youth mental health and social media, with a total payment cap of approximately $18.59 billion. Excluding this expense, operating profit was $22.88 billion, corresponding to an adjusted diluted earnings per share of approximately $7.40.

The significant year-on-year growth in net profit was also influenced by the low base effect of the previous year's effective tax rate, which was as high as 87%; the effective tax rate for this quarter was 24%. Ad impressions increased by 10% year-on-year, and the average ad price rose by 14%. Family daily active people were approximately 3.64 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3%. Family of Apps revenue was approximately $64.16 billion, of which ad revenue was about $63.06 billion; Reality Labs revenue was approximately $443 million, with an operating loss of about $4.13 billion.

Capital expenditures for the third quarter (including principal payments on finance leases) were approximately $34.9 billion, with free cash flow of negative $2.12 billion, and cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities at the end of the quarter were approximately $82.4 billion. The company expects fourth-quarter revenue to be between $73 billion and $76 billion. The full-year capital expenditure guidance has been narrowed to $135 billion to $145 billion, and the full-year expense guidance has been raised to $175 billion to $179 billion, mainly due to the inclusion of legal expenses; excluding this expense, full-year operating profit is still expected to be higher than in 2025. The company also expects Reality Labs operating losses in 2026 to be approximately $18 to $19 billion, with hopes of narrowing next year.

According to Gate market data, possibly influenced by the earnings report information, META's stock price rose by 2.17% in after-hours trading.