Meta Beats Q2 Earnings Estimates, Issues Strong Guidance, Shares Surge To New Highs

Meta Platforms Inc META reported second-quarter financial results after the market close on Wednesday. Here’s a rundown of the report.Check the latest META stock price here.Q2 Earnings: Meta reported second-quarter revenue of $47.52 billion, beating analyst estimates of $44.58 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The company reported second-quarter earnings of $7.14 per share, beating estimates of $5.79 per share.Total revenue was up 22% on a year-over-year basis. Family daily active people climbed 6% year-over-year to 3.48 billion. Ad impressions jumped 11% year-over-year and average price per ad increased by 9% year-over-year.Operating margin totaled 43%, up from 38% in the prior year's quarter. Costs and expenses came in at $27.08 billion, up 12% year-over-year. Capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, came in at $17.01 billion. Meta noted its headcount was up 7% year-over-year to 75,945 as of June 30. Meta generated $25.56 billion in cash flow from operations and $8.55 billion of free cash flow during the quarter. The company ended the quarter with $47.07 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. “We’ve had a strong quarter both in terms of our business and community. I’m excited to build personal superintelligence for everyone in the world,” said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms.Guidance: Meta expects third-quarter revenue to be in the range of $47.5 billion to $50.5 billion versus estimates of $45.87 billion, per Benzinga Pro.Trending Investment OpportunitiesMeta expects full-year 2025 expenses to be in the range of $114 billion to $118 billion. The company anticipates full-year capital expenditures of $66 billion to $72 billion.“While we are not providing an outlook for fourth quarter revenue, we would expect our year-over-year growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2025 to be slower than the third quarter as we lap a period of stronger growth in the fourth quarter of 2024,” the company said.Meta’s management team will discuss the quarter on an earnings call with investors and analysts at 5 p.m. ET.META Price Action: Meta Platforms shares were up 9.08% in after-hours, trading at $758.33 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro. Meta’s AI Firepower Could Ignite Magnificent Seven ETFs Photo: Tada Images/Shutterstock.com