Meta Stock Slips as Facebook Parent Ramps Up AI Spending
Meta stock is lower Thursday as concerns over the social media giant's increased spending offset a third-quarter earnings and revenue beat. Here's what you need to know.


Meta Platforms (META) stock is trading in negative territory Thursday after the parent company of Facebook and Instagram beat top- and bottom-line expectations for its third quarter, but came up short on user growth. A big boost in the company's spending outlook is also causing concern for investors.
In the three months ended September 30, Meta's revenue increased 18.9% year over year to $40.6 billion, due in part to a 5% rise in its family daily active people (DAP) to 3.29 billion. Meta also said its earnings per share (EPS) rose 37.4% from the year-ago period to $6.03.
"We had a good quarter driven by artificial intelligence (AI) progress across our apps and business," said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement. "We also have strong momentum with Meta AI, Llama adoption, and AI-powered glasses."

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
The headline results beat analysts' expectations. Wall Street was anticipating revenue of $40.3 billion and earnings of $5.25 per share, according to CNBC. However, its DAP came up short of expectations of 3.31 billion.
For the fourth quarter, Meta said it anticipates revenue in the range of $45 billion to $48 billion. The midpoint of this range, $46.5 billion, came in just ahead of analysts' expectations of $46.3 billion.
Meta also raised the low end of its full-year capital expenditures outlook, now anticipating a range of $38 billion to $40 billion from the previous guidance of $37 billion to $40 billion.
In Meta's prepared remarks, Chief Financial Officer Susan Li added that the company continues to expect "significant capital expenditures growth in 2025" as it continues to invest in its AI infrastructure.
Is META stock a buy, sell or hold?
Meta Platforms has been one of the best-performing Magnificent 7 stocks in 2024, up more than 67% for the year to date on a total return basis (price change plus dividends). Unsurprisingly, Wall Street is upbeat toward the communication services stock.
According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the average analyst target price for META stock is $629.77, representing implied upside of roughly 9% to current levels. Additionally, the consensus recommendation is Strong Buy.
Financial services firm Oppenheimer has an Outperform rating (equivalent to a Buy) and $650 price target on the large-cap stock.
"Meta Platforms Inc. is the world's largest social networking company, with 3.7 billion monthly users across all its properties," says Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein. "While META's historical advantage has been the social graph and the ability to share and follow pictures and videos uploaded by users, the company now believes it must evolve to use advanced algorithms to deliver content to users and leverage its social graph in the Metaverse."
The analyst adds that AI will help drive revenue upside through increasing engagement for users and better conversion for advertisers.
Related Content
- Earnings Calendar and Analysis for This Week
- Analysts' Top S&P 500 Stocks to Buy Now
- If You'd Put $1,000 Into Google Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have Today
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.

Joey Solitro is a freelance financial journalist at Kiplinger with more than a decade of experience. A longtime equity analyst, Joey has covered a range of industries for media outlets including The Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, Market Realist, and TipRanks. Joey holds a bachelor's degree in business administration.
-
Investing Abroad Could Pay Off — Here's How
Countries overseas are stimulating their economies, and their stocks are compelling bargains.
-
Retire in Belize for Stunning Natural Beauty and Culture
Belize offers miles of protected land and ocean, a rich mix of cultures and a chill lifestyle. Best yet — the income requirement is just $2K per month.
-
Why Investing Abroad Could Pay Off
Countries overseas are stimulating their economies, and their stocks are compelling bargains.
-
Are These the Next Stocks to Split?
Interactive Brokers' recently split its stock to makes its shares more accessible to investors. Could these high-priced stocks be next?
-
Your Home + Your IRA = Your Long-Term Care Solution
If you're worried that long-term care costs will drain your retirement savings, consider a personalized retirement plan that could solve your problem.
-
I'm a Financial Planner: Retirees Should Never Do These Four Things in a Recession
Recessions are scary business, especially for retirees. They can scare even the most prepared folks into making bad moves — like these.
-
A Retirement Planner's Advice for Taking the Guesswork Out of Income Planning
Once you've saved for retirement, you'll need your nest egg to support you for as many as 30 years. For that, you need a clear income strategy, not guesswork.
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Swing as Trump Scraps Canada Trade Talks
Despite a mid-afternoon slip, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the day at new record highs.
-
Why Smart Retirees Are Ditching Traditional Financial Plans
Financial plans based purely on growth, like the 60/40 portfolio, are built for a different era. Today’s retirees need plans based on real-life risks and goals and that feature these four elements.
-
To My Small Business: Well, I've Been Afraid of Changin', 'Cause I've Built My Life Around You
While thinking about succession planning might feel like anticipating a landslide (here's to you, Fleetwood Mac), there are strategies you can implement to manage the uncertainty and the transition.