Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) Earnings
Meta Platforms, Inc. is expected to report next earnings on October 28, 2026 (in NaN days), with a consensus EPS estimate of $6.75. META has beaten EPS estimates in 10 of its last 12 reported quarters (average surprise +2.8% over the last four).
| Report date | EPS est | EPS actual | Surprise | Revenue | Rev. surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2026 | $7.19 | $6.18 | -14.0% | $60.8B | +1.0% |
| Apr 29, 2026 | $6.70 | $7.31 | +9.1% | $56.3B | +1.4% |
| Jan 28, 2026 | $8.19 | $8.88 | +8.4% | $59.9B | +2.7% |
| Oct 29, 2025 | $6.72 | $7.25 | +7.9% | $51.2B | +3.5% |
| Jul 30, 2025 | $5.88 | $7.14 | +21.4% | $47.5B | +6.0% |
| Apr 30, 2025 | $5.23 | $6.43 | +22.9% | $42.3B | +2.4% |
| Jan 29, 2025 | $6.75 | $8.02 | +18.8% | $48.4B | +2.9% |
| Jul 31, 2024 | $4.73 | $5.16 | +9.1% | $39.1B | +2.1% |
| Feb 1, 2024 | $4.96 | $5.33 | +7.5% | $40.1B | +2.4% |
| Oct 25, 2023 | $3.63 | $4.39 | +20.9% | $34.1B | +7.9% |
| Jul 26, 2023 | $2.92 | $2.98 | +2.1% | $32.0B | +14.4% |
| Feb 1, 2023 | $2.22 | $1.76 | -20.7% | $32.2B | +1.9% |
Source: company filings + earnings calendar. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
Earnings call summary
Q2 FY2026 · July 29, 2026
AI summary of management’s prepared remarks and analyst Q&A. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
Management highlights
### Core Business AI Improvements - AI integration across recommendation systems for Facebook and Instagram has delivered measurable engagement gains. Global time spent on Instagram grew double digits year-over-year, and global video time spent on Facebook increased 9% year-over-year (over 10% in the US and Canada). - Every public Reels and feed post on Instagram is now automatically processed via an LLM for content understanding, with work underway to expand this to more Facebook surfaces. A major Reels ranking improvement combining faster inference and deeper user history drove a 15 basis point increase in Instagram sessions. - AI improvements to ad systems have delivered significant performance gains: LLM-powered ad matching delivered an 8.3% increase in ad clicks and 15.7% uplift in conversions on Facebook, and 9 million small businesses currently use at least one of Meta's AI ad creative tools, with adoption of image generation tools doubling this quarter.
Guidance
- Third quarter 2026 total revenue is expected to be between $61 billion and $64 billion, with foreign currency expected to act as a roughly 1% headwind to year-over-year growth based on current exchange rates. - Full year 2026 total expenses are now guided to a range of $165 billion to $169 billion, an upward revision to the lower bound of the prior range to account for the $2.4 billion Q2 legal proceedings charge. Management still expects 2026 operating income to exceed 2025 operating income. - 2026 capital expenditures (including principal payments on finance leases) are now guided to a range of $130 billion to $145 billion, narrowed from the prior range of $125 billion to $145 billion. - The 2026 effective tax rate for remaining quarters is expected to be between 15% and 17%. - No specific 2027 capital expenditure guidance is provided at this time, with infrastructure planning remaining dynamic. Management's current priority is maximizing available capacity for 2026 and 2027, while building foundational infrastructure to retain flexibility for 2028 and beyond capacity growth.
Segment performance
1. Family of Apps Segment: Total revenue was $60.4 billion, up 28% year-over-year. This segment contributed 99.3% of Meta's total Q2 2026 revenue. Ad revenue within the segment was $59.4 billion, up 27% year-over-year (26% in constant currency). Other revenue within the segment reached $1 billion for the first time, growing 73% year-over-year, driven by WhatsApp paid messaging and subscription services. Total ad impressions across the segment increased 14% year-over-year, while the global average price per ad increased 12% year-over-year. 2. Reality Labs Segment: Total revenue was $431 million, up 16% year-over-year. This segment contributed 0.7% of Meta's total Q2 2026 revenue. Growth was driven by strong increases in AI glasses revenue, which was partially offset by lower Quest headset sales. Consolidated total company revenue was $60.8 billion, up 28% year-over-year (27% in constant currency).
Risks & headwinds
- Industry-wide AI infrastructure capacity is tight, with historical underbuilding and incomplete supply chains creating uncertainty around near and long-term access to required capacity. - Adoption of new AI-powered consumer and enterprise products is difficult to predict, and consumer behavior may not evolve as quickly as expected to widespread personal agent usage. - Aggressive capital investment in AI infrastructure carries execution risk, and actual return on investment may not meet expectations if new product lines scale slower than anticipated. - Legal uncertainty exists, with $2.4 billion in Q2 2026 charges already recorded related to ongoing legal proceedings, and potential for additional unplanned legal costs in future quarters.
Analyst Q&A
Q: Which of Meta's new AI opportunities (consumer agents, business agents, APIs, compute sales) will deliver material quantifiable ROIC first in 2026 and 2027? What is Meta's early thinking on 2027 capital expenditure and financing for this multi-year build? /
A: Management expects meaningful growth across all new opportunity areas, and notes that selling intelligence has structurally higher margins than direct compute sales, even though compute sales also represent a large near-term opportunity with incoming offers at a meaningful premium to Meta's cost. No specific 2027 CapEx guidance is provided; infrastructure planning remains dynamic, with a current focus on maximizing 2026-2027 capacity and retaining flexibility for 2028+ adjustments based on actual need.
Q: How much of Meta's enterprise AI opportunity builds on its existing advertising go-to-market, versus requiring entirely new go-to-market capabilities? What is Meta's philosophical approach to capital structure mix for large AI infrastructure investments? /
A: Most of the enterprise opportunity, including business agents and AI marketing tools, is a natural extension of Meta's existing relationships with millions of businesses, aligned with Meta's performance-based pricing model. New offerings like internal developer productivity tools will require building new go-to-market muscles. Meta will use its strong operating cash flow, add cost-efficient long-term debt, and pursue strategic third-party partnerships like the BlackRock data center venture to fund investments, balancing ambition with capital efficiency.
Q: How does Meta view the potential for consumer adoption of personal AI agents to close the current AI utility gap, and is a mainstream breakthrough imminent? /
A: Management notes that new AI capabilities unlock new product lines every year, with coding agents already breaking through as the first large mainstream agent market. Meta is betting that consumer personal agents will become an extremely large mass market, and Meta's core strength in scaling consumer products to billions of users positions it well to deliver a polished, widely adoptable product that just works for mainstream users.
Q: If open weight models proliferate, does Meta still need to develop its own proprietary frontier AI models? /
A: Open source models are currently not as capable as leading frontier models, and Meta as a full-stack technology company has always built end-to-end infrastructure to deliver optimized, high-quality experiences, so retaining sovereignty over its own model development is critical. Open source remains an important part of Meta's strategy, but building custom models tailored to Meta's specific use cases (personal agents, business agents, recommendations) is required to deliver maximum value, and open source does not eliminate the need for Meta to own its model development.