Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META) reported third-quarter results late Wednesday that missed earnings estimates but slightly beat on revenue. Meta stock plunged after hours.
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The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.64 a share on revenue of $27.7 billion. Analysts expected Meta to report earnings of $1.90 a share on revenue of $27.4 billion, according to FactSet.
Meta stock dropped 12.3% to 114 during after-hours trading on the stock market today.
Meta Stock: User Count Meets Estimates
The company expects fourth-quarter revenue to be in the range of $30 billion to $32.5 billion. The midpoint of $31.25 billion compares with analyst estimates of $32.3 billion.
Facebook reported having 1.98 billion daily active users, meeting estimates and up 3% from the year-ago period. It had 2.96 billion monthly active users, also meeting estimates and up 2%.
“We are making significant changes across the board to operate more efficiently,” Meta said in its earnings release.
“We are holding some teams flat in terms of head count, shrinking others and investing head count growth only in our highest priorities,” the company went on to say.
Struggling With Ad Spending Slowdown
Meta expect 2022 total expenses to be in the range of $85 billion to $87 billion.
Meta has been struggling with a slowdown in online ad spending, exacerbated by privacy updates by Apple (AAPL) and competition from TikTok.
On Tuesday, Google-owner Alphabet (GOOG) reported a substantial miss on YouTube ad revenue.
Meta stock is down about 62% this year.
Please follow Brian Deagon on Twitter at @IBD_BDeagon for more on tech stocks, analysis and financial markets.
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