Meta Reports Third Quarter 2024 Results

MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.

“We had a good quarter driven by AI progress across our apps and business,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO. “We also have strong momentum with Meta AI, Llama adoption, and AI-powered glasses.”

 

Third Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights

Three Months Ended September 30,

 % Change

In millions, except percentages and per share amounts                                                            

2024

2023

Revenue

$                  40,589

$                  34,146

19 %

Costs and expenses

23,239

20,398

14 %

Income from operations

$                  17,350

$                  13,748

26 %

Operating margin

43 %

40 %

Provision for income taxes

$                    2,134

$                    2,437

(12) %

Effective tax rate

12 %

17 %

Net income

$                  15,688

$                  11,583

35 %

Diluted earnings per share (EPS)

$                      6.03

$                      4.39

37 %

 

Third Quarter 2024 Operational and Other Financial Highlights

  • Family daily active people (DAP) – DAP was 3.29 billion on average for September 2024, an increase of 5% year-over-year.
  • Ad impressions – Ad impressions delivered across our Family of Apps increased by 7% year-over-year.
  • Average price per ad – Average price per ad increased by 11% year-over-year.
  • Revenue – Total revenue was $40.59 billion, an increase of 19% year-over-year. Revenue on a constant currency basis would have increased 20% year-over-year.
  • Costs and expenses – Total costs and expenses were $23.24 billion, an increase of 14% year-over-year.
  • Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $9.20 billion.
  • Capital return program – Share repurchases were $8.86 billion of our Class A common stock and total dividend and dividend equivalent payments were $1.26 billion.
  • Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities – Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $70.90 billion as of September 30, 2024. Free cash flow was $15.52 billion.
  • Long-term debt – Long-term debt was $28.82 billion as of September 30, 2024.
  • Headcount – Headcount was 72,404 as of September 30, 2024, an increase of 9% year-over-year.

 

CFO Outlook Commentary

We expect fourth quarter 2024 total revenue to be in the range of $45-48 billion. Our guidance assumes foreign currency is approximately neutral to year-over-year total revenue growth, based on current exchange rates.

We expect full-year 2024 total expenses to be in the range of $96-98 billion, updated from our prior range of $96-99 billion. For Reality Labs, we continue to expect 2024 operating losses to increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts and investments to further scale our ecosystem. 

We anticipate our full-year 2024 capital expenditures will be in the range of $38-40 billion, updated from our prior range of $37-40 billion. We continue to expect significant capital expenditures growth in 2025. Given this, along with the back-end weighted nature of our 2024 capital expenditures, we expect a significant acceleration in infrastructure expense growth next year as we recognize higher growth in depreciation and operating expenses of our expanded infrastructure fleet.

Absent any changes to our tax landscape, we expect our fourth quarter 2024 tax rate to be in the low-teens.

In addition, we continue to monitor an active regulatory landscape, including the increasing legal and regulatory headwinds in the EU and the U.S. that could significantly impact our business and our financial results.

 

Webcast and Conference Call Information

Meta will host a conference call to discuss the results at 2:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. ET today. The live webcast of Meta’s earnings conference call can be accessed at the Meta Investor Relations website at investor.fb.com, along with the earnings press release, financial tables, and slide presentation. 

Following the call, a replay will be available at the same website. Transcripts of conference calls with publishing equity research analysts held today will also be posted to the investor.fb.com website.

 

Disclosure Information

Meta uses the investor.fb.com and about.fb.com/news/ websites as well as Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Page (facebook.com/zuck), Instagram account (instagram.com/zuck) and Threads profile (threads.net/zuck) as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.

 

About Meta

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology.

 

Contacts

Investors:
Kenneth Dorell
investor@meta.com / investor.fb.com

Press:
Ryan Moore
press@meta.com / about.fb.com/news/

 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding our future business plans and expectations. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors including: the impact of macroeconomic conditions on our business and financial results, including as a result of geopolitical events; our ability to retain or increase users and engagement levels; our reliance on advertising revenue; our dependency on data signals and mobile operating systems, networks, and standards that we do not control; changes to the content or application of third-party policies that impact our advertising practices; risks associated with new products and changes to existing products as well as other new business initiatives, including our artificial intelligence initiatives and metaverse efforts; our emphasis on community growth and engagement and the user experience over short-term financial results; maintaining and enhancing our brand and reputation; our ongoing privacy, safety, security, and content and advertising review and enforcement efforts; competition; risks associated with government actions that could restrict access to our products or impair our ability to sell advertising in certain countries; litigation and government inquiries; privacy, legislative, and regulatory concerns or developments; risks associated with acquisitions; security breaches; our ability to manage our scale and geographically-dispersed operations; and market conditions or other factors affecting the payment of dividends. These and other potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted are more fully detailed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 1, 2024, which is available on our Investor Relations website at investor.fb.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2024. In addition, please note that the date of this press release is October 30, 2024, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.

For a discussion of limitations in the measurement of certain of our community metrics, see the section entitled “Limitations of Key Metrics and Other Data” in our most recent quarterly or annual report filed with the SEC.

 

Non-GAAP Financial Measures 

To supplement our condensed consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP), we use the following non-GAAP financial measures: revenue excluding foreign exchange effect, advertising revenue excluding foreign exchange effect, and free cash flow. The presentation of these financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. Investors are cautioned that there are material limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures as an analytical tool. In addition, these measures may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies, limiting their usefulness for comparison purposes. We compensate for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from these non-GAAP financial measures.

We believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide investors with useful supplemental information about the financial performance of our business, enable comparison of financial results between periods where certain items may vary independent of business performance, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in operating our business.

Our non-GAAP financial measures are adjusted for the following items:

Foreign exchange effect on revenue. We translated revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 using the prior year’s monthly exchange rates for our settlement or billing currencies other than the U.S. dollar, which we believe is a useful metric that facilitates comparison to our historical performance.

Purchases of property and equipment; Principal payments on finance leases. We subtract both purchases of property and equipment, net of proceeds and principal payments on finance leases in our calculation of free cash flow because we believe that these two items collectively represent the amount of property and equipment we need to procure to support our business, regardless of whether we procure such property or equipment with a finance lease. We believe that this methodology can provide useful supplemental information to help investors better understand underlying trends in our business. Free cash flow is not intended to represent our residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures.

For more information on our non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures, please see the “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results” table in this press release.

 

META PLATFORMS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

(In millions, except per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

Three Months Ended September 30,

Nine Months Ended September 30,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Revenue

$             40,589

$           34,146

$         116,116

$           94,791

Costs and expenses:

Cost of revenue

7,375

6,210

21,322

18,264

Research and development

11,177

9,241

31,693

27,966

Marketing and sales

2,822

2,877

8,107

9,075

General and administrative

1,865

2,070

8,978

9,119

Total costs and expenses

23,239

20,398

70,100

64,424

Income from operations

17,350

13,748

46,016

30,367

Interest and other income, net

472

272

1,095

254

Income before provision for income taxes

17,822

14,020

47,111

30,621

Provision for income taxes

2,134

2,437

5,589

5,540

Net income

$             15,688

$            11,583

$            41,522

$            25,081

Earnings per share:

Basic

$                 6.20

$                4.50

$              16.37

$                9.73

Diluted

$                 6.03

$                4.39

$              15.88

$                9.56

Weighted-average shares used to compute earnings per share:                                     

Basic

2,529

2,576

2,536

2,577

Diluted

2,600

2,641

2,615

2,623

 

META PLATFORMS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In millions)

(Unaudited)

September 30, 2024

December 31, 2023

Assets

Current assets:

Cash and cash equivalents

$                  43,852

$                  41,862

Marketable securities

27,048

23,541

Accounts receivable, net

14,700

16,169

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

5,467

3,793

Total current assets

91,067

85,365

Non-marketable equity securities

6,071

6,141

Property and equipment, net

112,162

96,587

Operating lease right-of-use assets

14,812

13,294

Goodwill

20,654

20,654

Other assets

11,642

7,582

Total assets

$                256,408

$                229,623

Liabilities and stockholders’ equity

Current liabilities:

Accounts payable

$                    7,656

$                    4,849

Operating lease liabilities, current

2,016

1,623

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities                                                                                                                           

23,658

25,488

Total current liabilities

33,330

31,960

Operating lease liabilities, non-current

18,208

17,226

Long-term debt

28,823

18,385

Long-term income taxes

9,171

7,514

Other liabilities

2,347

1,370

Total liabilities

91,879

76,455

Commitments and contingencies

Stockholders’ equity:

Common stock and additional paid-in capital

80,749

73,253

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

(1,192)

(2,155)

Retained earnings

84,972

82,070

Total stockholders’ equity

164,529

153,168

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

$                256,408

$                229,623

 

META PLATFORMS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In millions)

(Unaudited)

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Cash flows from operating activities

Net income

$       15,688

$       11,583

$       41,522

$       25,081

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:                               

Depreciation and amortization

4,027

2,858

11,038

8,006

Share-based compensation

4,250

3,492

12,428

10,603

Deferred income taxes

(1,308)

3,049

(3,406)

1,292

Impairment charges for facilities consolidation, net

8

340

288

1,342

Other

(11)

75

(82)

278

Changes in assets and liabilities:

Accounts receivable

143

(678)

1,493

444

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

(184)

(907)

(168)

(141)

Other assets

(29)

(36)

(70)

31

Accounts payable

667

611

(195)

(543)

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

572

87

(1,199)

5,355

Other liabilities

901

(72)

1,691

(39)

Net cash provided by operating activities

24,724

20,402

63,340

51,709

Cash flows from investing activities

Purchases of property and equipment, net

(8,258)

(6,496)

(22,831)

(19,453)

Purchases of marketable debt securities

(4,468)

(1,008)

(14,644)

(1,810)

Sales and maturities of marketable debt securities

4,114

1,475

11,972

3,825

Acquisitions of businesses and intangible assets

(132)

(38)

(261)

(565)

Other investing activities

124

(10)

112

(20)

Net cash used in investing activities

(8,620)

(6,077)

(25,652)

(18,023)

Cash flows from financing activities

Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards

(3,544)

(2,087)

(9,913)

(4,789)

Repurchases of Class A common stock

(8,818)

(3,570)

(30,125)

(13,832)

Payments for dividends and dividend equivalents

(1,263)

(3,802)

Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt, net

10,432

10,432

8,455

Principal payments on finance leases

(944)

(267)

(1,558)

(751)

Other financing activities

(234)

49

(350)

(182)

Net cash used in financing activities

(4,371)

(5,875)

(35,316)

(11,099)

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash                     

368

(354)

(72)

(283)

Net increase in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash

12,101

8,096

2,300

22,304

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at beginning of the period

33,026

29,804

42,827

15,596

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at end of the period

$       45,127

$       37,900

$       45,127

$       37,900

Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash to the
condensed consolidated balance sheets                                       

Cash and cash equivalents

$       43,852

$       36,890

$       43,852

$       36,890

Restricted cash, included in prepaid expenses and other current assets

90

152

90

152

Restricted cash, included in other assets

1,185

858

1,185

858

Total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash

$       45,127

$       37,900

$       45,127

$       37,900

META PLATFORMS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In millions)

(Unaudited)

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Supplemental cash flow data

Cash paid for income taxes, net

$            1,767

$              509

$           8,326

$           2,016

Cash paid for interest, net of amounts capitalized

$               111

$              120

$              356

$              302

Non-cash investing and financing activities:

Property and equipment in accounts payable and accrued

expenses and other current liabilities

$            7,217

$           4,506

$           7,217

$           4,506

Acquisition of businesses and intangible assets in accrued
expenses and other current liabilities and other liabilities

$               186

$              182

$              186

$              182

Repurchases of Class A common stock in accrued expenses and
other current liabilities                                                                                                       

$                 —

$              122

$                —

$              122

 

 

Segment Results

We report our financial results for our two reportable segments: Family of Apps (FoA) and Reality Labs (RL). FoA includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other services. RL includes our virtual, augmented, and mixed reality related consumer hardware, software, and content.

The following table presents our segment information of revenue and income (loss) from operations:

 

Segment Information

(In millions)

(Unaudited)

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Revenue:

Advertising

$           39,885

$           33,643

$         113,850

$          93,242

Other revenue

434

293

1,203

724

Family of Apps

40,319

33,936

115,053

93,966

Reality Labs

270

210

1,063

825

Total revenue

$           40,589

$           34,146

$         116,116

$          94,791

Income (loss) from operations:

Family of Apps

$           21,778

$           17,490

$           58,778

$          41,841

Reality Labs

(4,428)

(3,742)

(12,762)

(11,474)

Total income from operations                                                                                           

$           17,350

$           13,748

$           46,016

$          30,367

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results

(In millions, except percentages)

(Unaudited)

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

2024

2023

2024

2023

GAAP revenue

$           40,589

$           34,146

$          116,116

$          94,791

Foreign exchange effect on 2024 revenue using 2023 rates

544

809

Revenue excluding foreign exchange effect

$           41,133

$          116,925

GAAP revenue year-over-year change %

19 %

22 %

Revenue excluding foreign exchange effect year-over-year change %

20 %

23 %

GAAP advertising revenue

$           39,885

$           33,643

$          113,850

$          93,242

Foreign exchange effect on 2024 advertising revenue using 2023 rates

538

799

Advertising revenue excluding foreign exchange effect

$           40,423

$          114,649

GAAP advertising revenue year-over-year change %

19 %

22 %

Advertising revenue excluding foreign exchange effect year-over-year change %

20 %

23 %

Net cash provided by operating activities

$           24,724

$           20,402

$            63,340

$          51,709

Purchases of property and equipment, net

(8,258)

(6,496)

(22,831)

(19,453)

Principal payments on finance leases

(944)

(267)

(1,558)

(751)

Free cash flow

$           15,522

$           13,639

$            38,951

$          31,505

 

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