Seeking Alpha盘中评论复述Meta Q3财报：营收创纪录但利润率受压、FCF上市来首次转负，股价盘中跌约5.8%

Meta Platforms ( META ) is on track for its third drop of more than 5% after an earnings report in a row. The technology and communications giant’s stock is currently -5.8%, trading at $658.27, its lowest level in over a month, and breaking below its 50-day moving average of approximately $661.46 to $662.27. Previous drawdowns of more than 5% after earnings happened on April 30, when META lost 8.65%, and on July 30, when the stock was down 7.95%. Meta’s ( META ) third quarter earnings showed an increase of 26% in revenues over the past year to a record high of $64.6B. However, its costs and expenses showed an increase of 68% year-over-year, including $9.9B of a settlement related to teen mental health and social media, Charlie Bilello, chief market strategist at Creative Planning, noted. This caused income from operations to fall 37% year-over-year, with profit margins declining to 20%, from 40% a year ago. In addition, the company’s Reality Labs lost $4.1B in the quarter. “We've never seen a public company light money on fire to this extent,” Bilello said. Lastly, its free cash flow was in the negative. The company reported an FCF of -$2.1B, its first negative quarter since the company went public in 2012, driven by an 80% year-over-year increase in AI infrastructure spending.