Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Posted by George Bondi on Jul 30th, 2026

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.19 by ($1.01), FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.14 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Meta Platforms’ conference call:

Strong Q2 revenue and advertising growth: Meta reported $60.8 billion in total revenue, up 28% year over year, while Family of Apps ad revenue rose 27%. Ad impressions increased 14% and average ad prices rose 12%, supported by stronger engagement and AI-driven performance improvements.
AI is improving core products and advertiser results: Meta cited gains from LLM-powered recommendations, including a 15.7% increase in Facebook ad conversions and continued growth in Instagram engagement. More than nine million small businesses now use at least one AI creative tool, while Advantage+ products surpassed a $75 billion annual revenue run rate.
New AI monetization opportunities are expanding: Meta is developing personal agents, business agents, model APIs, subscriptions, productivity tools, and direct compute sales. More than one million businesses use Meta Business Agents weekly, and the company said it is receiving offers to sell compute at a significant premium.
AI infrastructure spending is sharply pressuring profitability and cash flow: Q2 expenses rose 55% to $42 billion, including legal and severance charges, while operating income declined 8% and free cash flow was only $784 million. Meta raised its 2026 capital expenditure outlook to $130 billion–$145 billion as it accelerates data-center, server, and network investments.
Legal and regulatory risks remain material: Meta recorded $2.4 billion in Q2 legal charges and warned that upcoming youth-related trials in the U.S. could ultimately result in a material loss. Management also expects Q3 revenue of $61 billion–$64 billion, implying a more moderate growth rate than Q2.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded down $53.20 on Thursday, hitting $532.41. 13,134,060 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,670,182. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $603.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $624.24. Meta Platforms has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.63%.

Key Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, exceeding the $60.2 billion consensus estimate. Advertising revenue, impressions and average price per ad also showed solid growth, while AI-powered personalization helped drive double-digit increases in Instagram usage. Meta Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
Positive Sentiment: Several analysts maintained bullish ratings following the selloff. Guggenheim reaffirmed a Buy rating with an $800 target, while Rosenblatt, KeyCorp, Bank of America and Monness Crespi & Hardt retained Buy or Overweight ratings despite reducing their targets. Analyst Price Target Updates
Positive Sentiment: Meta’s partnership with BlackRock to develop a $14 billion, one-gigawatt Texas data-center campus could shift part of its AI infrastructure burden to outside capital while preserving access to computing capacity. Meta is also exploring leasing excess compute to other AI companies, creating a potential new revenue stream. Meta and BlackRock Form AI Data Center Venture
Neutral Sentiment: Management is positioning AI agents, enterprise services and smart glasses as future monetization opportunities, but investors are seeking clearer evidence that these initiatives will generate returns.
Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were $6.18 per share, well below the roughly $7.19 consensus and down from $7.14 a year earlier. Legal charges of about $2.4 billion and severance costs of approximately $1.2 billion contributed to the miss, although analysts argue underlying margins remained relatively strong. Meta Misses Profit Expectations
Negative Sentiment: Meta plans to spend roughly $130 billion to $145 billion on AI and infrastructure this year. Capital expenditures consumed nearly all of its $31.9 billion in quarterly operating cash flow, causing free cash flow to plunge and intensifying concerns about margin pressure and uncertain AI returns. Meta’s AI Spending and Compute Strategy
Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion was below the $63.2 billion consensus midpoint expectations, adding to the market’s concern that spending is rising faster than near-term monetization. Reality Labs also reported a loss exceeding $4.6 billion, while India summoned Meta executives over a briefly restricted post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding a regulatory headline risk.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 9,498 shares in the company, valued at $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total value of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,325 shares of company stock valued at $23,979,087. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Meta Platforms

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. TMB Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $355,000. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 641 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,254,000. Finally, First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 5,891 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,889,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $865.00 to $766.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $806.00.

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Meta Platforms Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.