Facebook misses on Q3 revenue, $29.01B vs $29.57B expected, and monthly active users, 2.91B vs 2.93B expected, but beat on EPS of $3.22 vs $3.19 expected
and reason to believe that Facebook will get worse. If Facebook's core business isn't growing as quickly anymore, it will be even more inclined to manipulate users and to use its massive war chest to buy competitors and legislators. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Post M. / @post_market : Despite all the hemming and hawing the House of Zuck added an incremental 1.5 Twitters in sales this quarter versus the same quarter last year. Rock solid. Spending capex like a drunken sailor though. See also Mediagazer
CNBCSalvador Rodriguez
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook entered the quarter after reporting $29.08B in Q2 revenue and 2.9B MAUs, while warning of a revenue slowdown. The Q3 figures leave both revenue and monthly users only modestly above those Q2 levels and below expectations.
The result contrasts with Facebook’s earlier high-growth reporting, including 49% year-over-year revenue growth in 2018, and extends a longer record in which user-growth deceleration has periodically accompanied otherwise strong earnings.
First-order effects
Facebook misses consensus targets for Q3 revenue and monthly active users, even as its $3.22 EPS exceeds the $3.19 estimate.
Investors must reconcile an earnings beat with weaker-than-expected scale and top-line delivery, rather than treating EPS as a clean all-clear for the core business.
Second-order effects
Facebook’s prior warning of a slowdown gains more weight in planning discussions because Q3 revenue missed expectations after Q2 revenue had reached $29.08B.
The small sequential MAU increase from Q2 raises the importance of revenue generated per active user for assessing Facebook’s ad business, rather than relying on audience expansion alone.
Third-order effects
If this pattern persists, Facebook’s reporting story shifts from rapid audience-led expansion toward monetization and cost discipline at an already vast user base.
The sequence reinforces a broader maturity-stage dynamic for large social platforms: revenue expectations become more sensitive to ad-demand changes when user growth slows.
The trend: Facebook is becoming a more mature advertising platform, with monetization and revenue resilience carrying more analytical weight as user growth decelerates.
interesting moves: 1. FB is authorizing a $50 billion share buyback plan 2. More interesting, it's breaking out financial reporting of Facebook Reality Labs, the wing of FB responsible for Oculus, VR, AR etc.
The bewildering scale of recent leaked document stories such as today's Facebook Files and the Pandora Papers make it difficult for readers to consume and understand the news. How are casual readers meant to digest all of this, for example? https://www.protocol.com/...
Despite all the hemming and hawing the House of Zuck added an incremental 1.5 Twitters in sales this quarter versus the same quarter last year. Rock solid. Spending capex like a drunken sailor though.
There is a lot to worry about here—and reason to believe that Facebook will get worse. If Facebook's core business isn't growing as quickly anymore, it will be even more inclined to manipulate users and to use its massive war chest to buy competitors and legislators. https://twit…
Facebook Q3 earnings ▫️ EPS: $3.22 vs. $3.20 Expected ▫️ Revenue: $29.0B vs. $29.6B Expected ▫️ MAUs of 2.91B as of September 30, up 6% YoY In short: still a money making machine with a boatload of users.