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The
company earned $22.77 billion, or $8.88 per share, in the
October-December quarter. That's up 9% from $20.84 billion, or
$8.02 per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue grew 24% to $59.89 billion from $48.39 billion.
Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $8.21 per share
on revenue of $58.5 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.
“Once again, Meta surpassed analysts’ earnings expectations for
the quarter, cementing its position as one of the world’s most
dominant media companies," said Debra Aho Williamson, chief
analyst at Sonata Insights. "Its strong performance provides a
solid foundation to continue its massive investments into AI. If
there were any signs of revenue shortfall, investors would look
at the capital expenditures more negatively.”
Meta's expenses, which the company already warned will be
significantly higher this year, grew 40% to $35.15 billion.
For the current quarter, Meta is forecasting revenue in the
range of $53.5 billion to $56.5 billion. That's above analysts'
forecast of $51.4 billion. For 2026, Meta is forecasting
expenses in the range of $162 billion to $169 billion, driven by
infrastructure costs and employee compensation, particularly for
the artificial intelligence experts it's been hiring at
eye-popping pay levels.
Meta had 78,865 employees at the end of the year, an increase of
6% from a year earlier.
Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based company rose $73.15,
or 10.9%, to $741.88 in after-hours trading.
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