META Q4 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates, Rise Y/Y

Meta Platforms META reported fourth-quarter 2024 earnings of $8.02 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20.06%. The figure surged 50.5% year over year.

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Revenues of $48.385 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.02% and increased 20.6% year over year. At constant currency (cc), revenues soared 21% year over year.

Revenues from Family of Apps (97.8% of total revenues), which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and other services, increased 21.2% year over year to $47.302 billion.

Family Daily Active People or DAP, defined as a registered and logged-in user who visited at least one of the Family products (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and/or WhatsApp) on a given day, was 3.35 billion, up 5% year over year.

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Geographically, revenues from the United States & Canada, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Rest of the World (RoW) surged 17.2%, 23.1%, 21.8% and 28% on a year-over-year basis, respectively.

Advertising revenues (98.9% of Family of Apps revenues) increased 20.9% year over year to $46.78 billion and accounted for 96.7% of fourth-quarter revenues. At cc, revenues increased 21% year over year.

Advertising revenues from the United States & Canada, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the RoW surged 18%, 23.2%, 21.8% and 26.7% on a year-over-year basis, respectively.

Ad impressions delivered across Family of Apps increased 6% year over year, and the average price per ad jumped 14% in the reported quarter. Impression growth from Asia-Pacific, the RoW, the United States & Canada and Europe was 10%, 3%, 6% and 5%, respectively.

Family of Apps’ other revenues soared 55.4% year over year to $519 million.

Reality Labs’ revenues (2.2% of total revenues) increased 1.1% year over year to $1.08 billion.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, total costs and expenses increased 5.4% year over year to $25.02 billion. As a percentage of revenues, total costs and expenses were 51.7%, significantly down from 59.2% in the year-ago quarter. 

In the reported quarter, Family of Apps expenses were $19 billion, accounting for 76% of Meta Platforms’ overall expenses. FoA expenses were up 5% year over year, primarily due to higher infrastructure and headcount-related costs. 

Reality Labs’ expenses were $6 billion, up 6% year over year.

As a percentage of revenues, marketing & sales expenses decreased 130 basis points (bps), while general & administrative expenses fell 410 bps on a year-over-year basis.

Research & development expenses, as a percentage of revenues, were 25.2%, down 100 bps on a year-over-year basis.

Meta Platforms’ employee base was 74,067 at the end of the fourth quarter, up 10% year over year.

Operating income of $23.37 billion jumped 42.6% year over year. The operating margin was 48.3%, expanding significantly from 40.8% in the year-ago quarter.

Family of Apps’ operating income surged 34.7% year over year to $28.332 billion. Reality Labs reported a loss of $4.97 billion compared with the year-ago quarter’s loss of $4.65 billion.