Meta stock tanks after earnings miss on revenue, lighter-than-expected Q4 guidance

Alexandra Garfinkle and Daniel Howley
Updated 3 min read
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Facebook parent Meta (META) reported its Q3 earnings on Wednesday, meeting expectations on revenue and offering lighter than expected guidance for Q4.

Here are the most important numbers from the report compared to what Wall Street was expecting from Facebook's parent company, as compiled by Bloomberg:

  • Revenue: $27.7 billion versus $27.4 billion expected

  • Earnings Per Share (EPS): $1.64 versus $1.89 expected

  • Facebook Daily Active Users (DAUs): 1.98 billion versus 1.86 billion expected

  • Facebook Monthly Active Users (MAUs): 2.96 billion versus 2.97 expected

  • Reality Labs operating loss: $3.67 billion versus $3.09 billion expected

Facebook stock tanked in after-hours trading and was down more than 20% as of Thursday morning.

Meta Q4 revenue guidance came in between $30 billion and $32.5 billion while the Street was expecting $32.2 billion. The company also announced that it will be pacing Reality Lab investments beyond 2023 but that spending will be significantly higher next year.

A digital advertising slowdown is hitting social media companies like Meta especially hard. Shares of the tech giant are off as much as 60% year-to-date as businesses pull back on ad spending amid rising inflation and interest rates.

It's not just Meta that's taking a beating, though. On Tuesday, Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) reported a substantial miss on YouTube ad revenues. Snap (SNAP) also issued a rough Q3 earnings report saying that revenue growth continues to decline and that average revenue per user fell for the quarter.

AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 15: Mark Zuckerberg, via video, speaks at Into the Metaverse: Creators, Commerce and Connection during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 15, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW)
AUSTIN, TEXAS - MARCH 15: Mark Zuckerberg, via video, speaks at Into the Metaverse: Creators, Commerce and Connection during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 15, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW) (Samantha Burkardt via Getty Images)

Meta also continues to contend with Apple's iOS privacy changes, which prevent the company from tracking users across third-party websites and apps.

All of this comes as Meta works to transform itself from a social media business to a metaverse-first firm. During its Meta Connect event earlier this month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined Meta's future including enterprise partnerships with Microsoft (MSFT) and Accenture (ACN). The tech giant also announced its new Quest Pro headset, though, it starts at $1,500.

But Zuckerberg's decision to focus on the metaverse, which cost the company $10 billion in 2021, has met criticism. Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner recently sent an open letter to Zuckerberg calling on him to cut spending on the metaverse and reduce employee headcount.

This post was updated with Meta's stock price.

Daniel Howley is a tech editor at Yahoo Finance. Follow him @DanielHowley

Allie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @agarfinks.

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