Meta Reports Q3 Revenue of $40.58 Billion, Boosted By 19% Ad Growth

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has shared record revenue of $40.58 billion for Q3 2024, marking a 19 per cent increase year-over-year. The surge in revenue was largely driven by strong advertising performance, with ad revenue reaching $39.8 billion for the quarter, up from $33.6 billion in the same period last year. These results exceeded Wall Street expectations, which had predicted total revenue of $40.29 billion.

The company's net income for Q3 was $15.69 billion, reflecting a 35 per cent year-on-year increase and translating to earnings of $6.03 per share, significantly higher than the expected $5.25 per share, according to LSEG. Meta credits this impressive performance to advancements in artificial intelligence, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighting that "AI progress across our apps and business" played a crucial role in the successful quarter.

In the September quarter, daily active users across Meta’s suite of apps averaged 3.29 billion, a 5 per cent increase from the previous year and a slight rise from 3.27 billion in June. However, since Q1 2024, the company has stopped reporting monthly active users and no longer provides daily or monthly user metrics specifically for Facebook.

Looking ahead, Meta has projected Q4 revenue between $45 billion and $48 billion, aligning with analyst expectations. For the full year of 2024, the company has revised its capital expenditure guidance to a range of $38 billion to $40 billion, up from the previous range of $37 billion to $40 billion. Meta expects substantial growth in capital expenditure in 2025, primarily driven by investments in AI, as major tech companies in Silicon Valley compete fiercely in this domain.

Despite these strong results, Meta's Reality Labs division which includes augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) products such as the Quest headset and metaverse initiatives, continued to incur losses. The division reported sales of $270 million, an increase from $210 million a year ago, but also an operating loss of $4.43 billion, up from a $3.74 billion loss during the same period last year. The company reiterated that its significant investments in the metaverse may take years to generate returns.

Additionally, Meta India reported a 24 per cent growth in gross advertising revenue, reaching Rs 22,730 crore for the fiscal year ending March 31, compared to Rs 18,308 crore in the previous fiscal year, according to filings with the RoC, as per media reports.

Meta's continued emphasis on artificial intelligence and long-term technology investments seems to underpin its strategy for future growth, as it balances high-performing ad revenues with substantial spending in emerging areas.