Hello everyone. Meta reported earnings back on October 25th, a few weeks after the company’s Connect conference (discussed in greater detail here). When looking at the competitive landscape, Meta has become one of Apple’s top competitors. Accordingly, we continue to fully cover the company’s business performance and strategy. Let’s jump right in.

Meta 3Q23 Earnings

Meta’s reported 3Q23 numbers were strong.

23% revenue growth
143% operating income growth
168% EPS growth

Much of this strength was expected. Revenue exceeded the midpoint of management’s guidance by just 3%, boosted by a FX tailwind.

Meta continues to see stabilization in its core business of monetizing user attention via advertising. This is the third consecutive quarter that showed such stabilization. A very easy year-over-year compare is certainly helping Meta. The company had a tough 2022. The stronger dollar is helping as well. However, there is legitimate improvement found within Meta’s core business, such as better Reels monetization.

In what is still difficult to get one’s mind around, Meta’s employee count at quarter end was down 24% year-over-year. This is obviously helping to cut expense growth and boost operating margins.

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