Meta's fourth-quarter results report on Thursday topped expectations in terms of earnings and revenue, and it also declared its first dividend payout. The stock rose 14% in extended trade.
Here are the essential figures:
- Earnings per share: $5.33 compared to $4.96 projected by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv.
- Revenue: $40.1 billion, compared to $39.18 billion projected by LSEG.
- According to StreetAccount, daily active users (DAUs) are 2.11 billion, compared to 2.08 billion projected.
- According to StreetAccount, monthly active users (MAUs) were 3.07 billion, compared to 3.06 billion projected.
- According to StreetAccount, the average revenue per user (ARPU) was $13.12, compared to the predicted $12.81.
Revenue increased 25% in the quarter from $32.2 billion a year ago, the best rate of growth since mid-2021, as the internet ad industry continued to recover. Meanwhile, the company's expenses fell 8% year on year to $23.73 billion, but its operating margin more than quadrupled to 41%, indicating that cost-cutting initiatives are improving profitability.
Net income more than quadrupled to $14 billion, or $5.33 per share, up from $4.65 billion, or $1.76 per share, the year before.
Meta announced that it will pay a dividend of 50 cents per share on March 26. This comes as cash and equivalents increased to $65.4 billion by the end of 2023, up from $40.7 billion the previous year. The business has also announced a $50 billion share repurchase.
The after-hours market gain extends the stock's rally from 2023, when it nearly tripled. It set a record in January and was up 12% this year before the earnings report. Meta's market capitalization has risen to about $1.2 trillion as a result of late-trading activity.
Meta's Reality Labs unit's sales exceeded $1 billion in the quarter, despite incurring losses of $4.65 billion.
"We had a good quarter as our community and business continued to grow," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. "We've made a lot of progress on our vision for advancing AI and the metaverse."
Meta estimates first-quarter revenues to be between $34.5 billion and $37 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $33.8 billion. Expenses in 2024 will range from $94 billion to $99 billion.
The column chart depicts Meta's quarterly revenue growth (from the previous quarter) from the first quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2023.
According to Meta, the headcount as of December 31 was 67,317, down 22% from the previous year due to layoffs.
On the analyst call, Finance Chief Susan Li stated that companies in e-commerce, entertainment, and gaming were the primary drivers of revenue growth.
Chinese shops boosted expenditures to reach consumers all around the world, contributing to Meta's financial rebound over the last year. Temu and Shein, two fast-growing Chinese startups, have been investing heavily in Facebook and Instagram advertising. Li said on Thursday that revenue from Chinese marketers accounted for 10% of sales this year, or a 5% increase.
Zuckerberg has stated that developments in artificial intelligence have bolstered the ad industry, which is growing faster than rival Google's. In Alphabet's earnings release on Tuesday, the company claimed Google ad revenue climbed 11% from the previous year, which was slower than experts expected.
Meta's report, along with those from Amazon and Apple, marks the end of the earnings season for the tech industry's mega-cap corporations. Amazon announced better-than-expected earnings, with its advertising business continuing to rise, and Apple also above expectations, reporting sales growth for the first time in a year.
Zuckerberg stated that Meta will continue to invest in AI and expand its processing infrastructure to accommodate larger workloads. However, this growth will occur without a significant increase in head count. Zuckerberg stated that the company has a "big recruiting backlog" since it is still working through the organisational changes caused by last year's layoffs and is hiring in areas where there will be more investment.
Regarding the company's ongoing recruiting plans, Zuckerberg stated that additions will be "relatively minimal" since he wants to "keep things lean."
Zuckerberg, as well as the CEOs of TikTok, X, Snap, and Discord, were grilled by senators during a session on Wednesday. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee accused Facebook's founder of downplaying the impact of child exploitation on the company's family of app deaths.
"I apologise for everything you've all been through. "It's terrible," Zuckerberg told the parents during an emotional scene on Capitol Hill. "No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered."
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