Meta shares pop on revenue and earnings beat, better-than-expected forecast

Meta shares jumped about 7% in extended trading on Wednesday after the company beat Wall Street estimates for revenue and profit and issued a better-than-expected forecast for the current period.

Here are the results, compared to LSEG estimates:

Meta provided revenue guidance for the third quarter of $38.5 billion to $41 billion, or $39.75 billion at the middle of the range. Analysts were expecting a forecast of of $39.1 billion.

The Facebook parent reported second-quarter revenue growth of 22% from $32 billion a year earlier, marking a fourth straight quarter of growth in excess of 20%. Net income jumped 73% to $13.47 billion from $7.79 billion, or $2.98 a share, a year earlier.

Meta's results point to continued share gains in the digital ad market, the company's core business. Advertising revenue, which comes largely from the Facebook and Instagram apps, rose 22% from a year earlier. Last week, top rival Alphabet reported an 11% increase in Google ad sales, with YouTube missing estimates.

Meta said expenses in the second quarter were $24.2 billion, which included the charge from its recent agreement to settle a facial recognition data lawsuit by the state of Texas for $1.4 billion.

The company reported capital expenditures of $8.47 billion for the second quarter, below the $9.51 billion that analysts estimated.

Meta said its expense outlook for the year remains unchanged at $96 billion to $99 billion. The company narrowed the range for capital expenditures. It's now $37 billion to $40 billion; the low number was previously $35 billion.

For user metrics, Meta reported that it had 3.27 billion daily active people (DAP) in the quarter, matching StreetAccount estimates. In the past, Meta reported daily and monthly active user