Meta Surpasses Revenue Estimates in Q4 2022, META Stock Up 19%

UTC by Ibukun Ogundare · 3 min read
Meta Surpasses Revenue Estimates in Q4 2022, META Stock Up 19%
Photo: Depositphotos

At the end of this year, Meta expects its total expense to fall between $89 billion and $95 billion.

Tech giant Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) exceeded analysts’ estimation in revenue during 2022 Q4, according to its earnings report. While there was a prediction of $31.543 billion in revenue, the company reported $32.17 billion. Despite beating revenue projections in 2022 Q4, Meta saw its revenue for the quarter drop 4% YoY. This represents the straight third quarter of declining sales for the company.

Meta Releases Earnings Report for 2022 Q4

Announcing its performance in 2022 Q4, Meta noted earnings per share of $1.76 and a $40 billion stock buyback. At the same time, the technology company said restructuring charges for its Family of Apps segments was $3.76 billion. Restructuring charges for its Reality Labs unit also cost $440 million. Additionally, Daily Active Users (DAUs) during the period popped above the 1.99 billion expected to 2 billion. The Average Revenue per User (ARPU) was $10.86, more than the predicted $10.63. On the other hand, Monthly Active Users (MAUs) dropped a little below the 2.98 billion expectation to 2.96 billion.

As Meta beat the 2022 Q4 revenue forecast, the company’s shares grew 20%. META trades up 18.95% to $182.07 in premarket trading. The technology company has been consistently soaring since the start of 2023, adding more than 27%. In addition, the company has grown over 72% in the last three months and 20.62% over the past month. Meta has gained almost 4% in the last five days.

Meta is positioned to end its consecutive YoY declines if it hits the highest range of its Q1 revenue prediction. The company expects Q1 revenue to come in between $26 billion and $28.5 billion. In addition to ending the streak of yearly losses, the company will exceed analysts’ forecast of $27.1 billion in revenue if it reaches the highest range. Commenting on the 2022 Q4 earnings report, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated:

“Our community continues to grow and I’m pleased with the strong engagement across our apps. Our management theme for 2023 is the ‘Year of Efficiency’ and we’re focused on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization.”

Lower Expenses in 2023

At the end of this year, Meta expects its total expense to fall between $89 billion and $95 billion. Meanwhile, the company had hoped to spend between $94 billion and $100 billion. However, it now expects “slower anticipated growth in payroll expenses and cost of revenue.” Meta announced in November that it would be reducing its headcounts by 13%. That means the company is dismissing more than 11,000 employees.

Zuckerberg has been selling the metaverse vision to investors who believe the new technology business is distracting the team. The Meta Reality Labs unit has a total operating loss of $13.72 billion for the year after losing $4.28 billion in 2022 Q4.

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