Meta Platform Plunges as Q4 Earnings Miss, Weaker Guidance Rattles Investors

This post was originally published on this site

Investing.com – Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB) reported quarterly earnings that missed forecasts and social media giant flagged slower growth ahead on concerns about rising competition and the impact of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s privacy changes.    

Meta Platforms parent company Facebook slumped more than 20% in after-hours trade following the report.

Facebook announced EPS of $3.67 on revenue of $33.67 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $3.85 on revenue of $33.34 billion.

Advertising revenue rose 20% to $32.64 billion.

Daily active users (DAUs) rose 5% to 1.93 billion, while monthly active people (MAUs) rose 9% to 3.59 billion. 

Looking ahead to Q1, the company said it expected advertising revenue to be impacted by headwinds to both impression and price growth.

Impressions is set to take a hit from increasing competition, and incrasing popularity of its video surfaces like Reels will take growth away from its higher margin segments liek feed and stories.

Commenting on price headwinds, Meta flagged Apple’s iOS priavy changes as another headwind to growth at a time when rising costs are impacting advertiser budgets.

Q1 2022 total revenue was guided in a range of $27-to-29 billion, below Wall Street estimates of $30.27 billion consensus.