Meta Platforms Q2 Earnings Highlights: Revenue And EPS Beat, Guidance Update, Lower Costs, 'Compelling' AI Opportunity

Technology company Meta Platforms META reported second-quarter financial results after the market close Wednesday. Here are the key highlights.

What Happened: Meta Platforms reported second quarter revenue of $32 billion, which was up 11% year-over-year. The revenue total came in ahead of a Street consensus estimate of $31.12 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Earnings per share totaled $2.98 in the second quarter, beating a Street consensus estimate of $2.91.

Meta reported 3.07 billion family daily active people in the second quarter, which was up 7% year-over-year. Family monthly active people totaled 3.88 billion, up 6% year-over-year.

Facebook daily active users were 2.06 billion in the second quarter, up 5% year-over-year. Facebook monthly active users were 3.03 billion in the quarter, up 3% year-over-year.

The company said its ads delivered were up 34% year-over-year. The average price per ad was down 16% year-over-year.

Meta Platforms bought back $793 million in shares in the second quarter, with $40.91 billion remaining on an authorized share repurchase plan.

The company ended the second quarter with $53.45 billion in cash and long-term debt of $18.38 billion.

In the second quarter, the company recorded $705 million in restructuring charges for its Family of Apps and $75 million for its Reality Labs segment.

Related Link: Trading Strategies For META Stock After Q2 Earnings

What’s Next: The company said it continues to invest in artificial intelligence and the metaverse, calling the two segments its “most compelling opportunities.”

Meta Labs sees full fiscal year 2023 capital expenditures in a range of $27 billion to $30 billion, down from a previous range of $30 billion to $33 billion.

Revenue guidance for the third quarter is in a range of $32 to $34.5 billion, which is ahead of a Street estimate of $28.29 billion, according to Benzinga Pro.

"We had a good quarter. We continue to see strong engagement across our apps and we have the most exciting roadmap I've seen in a while with Llama 2, Threads, Reels, new AI products in the pipeline, and the launch of Quest 3 this fall," Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

META Price Action: Meta shares are up 4.42% to $311.76 in after-hours trading Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $88.10 to $318.68.

Read Next: Ark Funds On Nasdaq Rebalancing, Can Smaller Tech Stocks Have Their Spotlight? Plus: A Look At Top 10 Holdings And Weightings

Photo via Shutterstock.