Anwar Almojarkesh (L) and Alan Chalabi (R) from England take a photo at Meta (formerly Facebook) corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, California on November 9, 2022.
Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images
Meta shares popped in extended trading on Wednesday after the company reported fourth-quarter revenue that topped estimates and announced a $40 billion stock buyback. Here are the results.
- Earnings: $1.76 per share
- Revenue: $32.17 billion vs $31.53 billion expected, according to Refinitiv
It’s not immediately clear if the reported earnings are comparable to analyst estimates of $2.22 per share. Here are some other key numbers that Wall Street is watching:
- Daily Active Users (DAUs): 2 billion vs 1.99 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
- Monthly Active Users (MAUs): 2.96 billion vs 2.98 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
- Average Revenue per User (ARPU): $10.86 vs $10.63 expected, according to StreetAccount
Revenue in the fourth quarter fell 4% from a year earlier, marking a third straight quarter of declining sales. The company’s cost and expenses ballooned 22% year-over-year to $25.8 billion.
Meta said it expects revenue in the first quarter of between $26 billion and $28.5 billion. Analysts were expecting sales of $27.1 billion, according to Refinitv. Sales in the first quarter of 2021 came in at $27.9 billion. Should Meta reach the high end of its guidance range, the company could end its streak of year-over-year declines.
“Our community continues to grow and I’m pleased with the strong engagement across our apps,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “Our management theme for 2023 is the ‘Year of Efficiency’ and we’re focused on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization.”
Meta said that its headcount increased 20% year-over-year to 86,482 as of December 31, 2022. That employee headcount number, however, includes a large chunk of the over 11,000 workers that Meta said it would lay off last November.
The company expects that its total…
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