Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) the parent company of social media platforms including Facebook, has announced a 35% increase in net income to US$15.7 billion (A$23.8 billion) for the quarter ended 30 September 2024.
Diluted earnings per share (EPS) grew 37% to $6.03 and revenue rose 19% to $40.6 billion in the third quarter (Q3) of the calendar year.
This was higher than consensus forecasts of $5.22 for EPS and $40.2 billion for revenue, but the share price ended $1.48 (0.25%) lower at $591.80, below its record high of $602.95, capitalising the company at $1.5 trillion.
"We had a good quarter driven by AI (artificial intelligence) progress across our apps and business," Meta founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.
"We also have strong momentum with Meta AI, Llama adoption, and AI-powered glasses."
AI was a dominant theme of the earnings call with Zuckerberg and Chief Financial Officer Susan Li.
Most ($39.9 billion) of the Q3 revenue was advertising from its Family of Apps segment which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.
The balance of revenue was from Reality Labs, Meta’s business and research unit that produces virtual reality and augmented reality hardware and software, including virtual reality headsets.
Meta said it expected fourth quarter 2024 revenue to be between US$45 billion and US$48 billion, compared with US$40.1 billion in the previous corresponding quarter.
It also continued to expect operating losses from Reality Labs in 2024 to increase meaningfully year-over-year due to ongoing product development efforts and investments to further scale its ecosystem.
“This was a pivotal year for our company. We increased our operating discipline, delivered strong execution across our product priorities, and improved advertising performance for the businesses who rely on our services,” Meta said.
“We will look to build on our progress in each of those areas in 2024 while advancing our ambitious, longer-term efforts in AI and Reality Labs.”
Meta is one of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks, that includes Google parent Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon and Tesla, that are closely watched because of their outsized impact on the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 indices.
The Meta share price has risen more than 67% this year.