Meta Platforms' Q4 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates, Rise Y/Y

Meta Platforms META reported fourth-quarter 2025 non-GAAP earnings of $8.88 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.16%.Revenues of $59.89 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.22% and increased 23.8% year over year. At constant currency (cc), revenues soared 23% year over year.META’s Top-Line Growth Rides on Strong User BaseRevenues from Family of Apps (98.4% of total revenues), which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and other services, increased 24.6% year over year to $58.94 billion. The top-line growth benefited from WhatsApp paid messaging revenue growth as well as Meta Verified subscriptions.Family Daily Active People or DAP, defined as a registered and logged-in user who visited at least one of the Family products (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and/or WhatsApp) on a given day, was 3.58 billion, up 7% year over year. Geographically, revenues from the United States & Canada, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Rest of the World (RoW) surged 21.5%, 21%, 25.9% and 32.5% on a year-over-year basis, respectively. Meta Platforms, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Meta Platforms, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Meta Platforms, Inc. Quote Instagram Reels had a strong quarter, with watch time up more than 30% year-over-year in the United States. Improving the quality of recommendations is driving up engagement. Simplified ranking architecture has enabled more efficient model scaling that has unlocked the ability for Meta Platforms’ systems to consider longer interaction histories to better identify a person’s interests. On Instagram, the amount of original content in the United States increased 10% in the fourth quarter of 2025, with 75% of recommendations coming from original posts.Facebook video time continued to grow double-digits year-over-year in the United States. The company saw strong results from ranking and product improvement efforts on both Feed and video surfaces. The optimizations META made in the reported quarter drove a 7% lift in views of organic Feed and video posts on Facebook. Recommendation improvement drove 20% lift in time spent on Threads.META’s Advertising Revenues Jump Y/YAdvertising revenues (98.6% of Family of Apps revenues) increased 24.3% year over year to $58.14 billion and accounted for 97.1% of fourth-quarter revenues. At cc, revenues increased 23% year over year.Advertising revenues from the United States & Canada, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the RoW surged 22.2%, 20.9%, 27.3% and 37.6% on a year-over-year basis, respectively.Ad impressions delivered across Family of Apps increased 18% year over year, and the average price per ad jumped 6% in the reported quarter. Impression growth from Asia-Pacific, the RoW, the United States & Canada and Europe was 24%, 14%, 13% and 13%, respectively. Impression growth was driven primarily by engagement and user growth, and to a lesser degree, ad load optimizations.Family of Apps’ other revenues soared 54.3% year over year to $801 million. Reality Labs’ revenues (1.6% of total revenues) dropped 11.8% year over year to $955 million.Higher Costs Hurt META’s Q4 Operating MarginIn the fourth quarter of 2025, total costs and expenses increased 40.5% year over year to $35.15 billion. As a percentage of revenues, total costs and expenses were 58.7%, up 700 basis points (bps) year over year.As a percentage of revenues, marketing & sales expenses decreased 100 bps, while general & administrative expenses increased 460 bps on a year-over-year basis. Research & development expenses, as a percentage of revenues, were 28.6%, up 340 bps on a year-over-year basis.Meta Platforms’ employee base was 78,865 at the end of the fourth quarter, up 6% year over year.Operating income of $24.75 billion climbed 18.4% year over year. The operating margin was 41.3%, which contracted 700 bps year over year. Family of Apps’ operating income increased 51.4% year over year to $30.77 billion. Reality Labs reported a loss of $6.02 billion compared with a loss of $4.97 billion.META’s Balance Sheet & Cash Flow Remains StrongAs of Dec. 31, 2025, cash & cash equivalents and marketable securities were $81.59 billion compared with $44.45 billion as of Sept. 30, 2025.Long-term debt was $58.74 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025, unchanged from the figure reported as of Sept. 30, 2025. Capital expenditures were $22.14 billion in the fourth quarter, while free cash flow was $14.08 billion.META Offers Positive GuidanceMeta Platforms expects total revenues between $53.5 billion and $56.5 billion for the first quarter of 2026, including 4% tailwind from favorable forex. For 2026, META anticipates total expenses between $162 billion and $169 billion, driven by higher infrastructure costs, which include third-party cloud spend, higher depreciation, and higher infrastructure operating expenses. Higher employee compensation driven by hires in AI space is expected to drive expenses. Operating income for 2026 is expected to be above 2025’s reported figure.META expects 2026 capital expenditure to be in the range of $115-$135, driven by increased investment to support Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts and core business.Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderCurrently, Meta Platforms carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector that are set to report their quarterly results are KLA KLAC, Sandisk SNDK and MKS MKSI. Each of the three stocks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Both KLA and Sandisk are set to report their respective second-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Jan. 29. MKS is set to report its fourth-quarter 2025 results on Feb. 17.In the trailing six-month period, shares of Sandisk, KLA and MKS have jumped 1116%, 75.9% and 135%, respectively.Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is HereThe AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. Little-known AI firms tackling the world's biggest problems may be more lucrative in the coming months and years.SeeWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Sandisk Corporation (SNDK): Free Stock Analysis Report KLA Corporation (KLAC): Free Stock Analysis Report MKS Inc. (MKSI): Free Stock Analysis Report Meta Platforms, Inc. (META): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks