META Q3 Earnings Recap – Wall Street Got Spooked for All the Wrong Reasons

Wall Street really is something else. They’re a fear-based entity;  easily spooked, quick to react, and rarely patient enough to look past the headline numbers.

Let’s take a step back and look at what actually happened with Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) this quarter.

📈 META’s Performance So Far This Year

• Total revenue: $51.24 billion, up 26% year-over-year, or up ~25% on a constant-currency basis.
• Advertising revenue: up 26% to ~$50.1 billion.
• Ad impressions: grew 14% year-over-year across Meta’s Family of Apps.
• Average price per ad: increased 10%, showing stronger monetization per ad.
• Daily active users: 3.54 billion, up 8% year-over-year.
• Shareholder returns: Meta repurchased ~$3.16 billion of Class A common stock and paid ~$1.33 billion in dividends/equivalents this quarter.

💸 What About CapEx (Capital Expenditures)?

Here’s the part a lot of folks get wrong: CapEx is not just “costs going down” or “bad stuff”.   it’s investment in the company’s future!

• In Q3, Meta’s capital expenditures (including principal payments on finance leases) were ~$19.37 billion.
• For the full year 2025, they expect CapEx in the range of $70-$72 billion.
• And they’ve warned that in 2026, CapEx growth will be notably larger as they build out more infrastructure, especially for AI.

Why this matters & why it’s actually good:

• CapEx includes building data centers, buying servers, investing in AI infrastructure. That’s Meta going all-in on the future.
• These investments will allow Meta to scale its AI, advertising, and platform reach  which means higher revenue and stronger business down the line.
• While spending big now can make margins tighter short-term, it sets the stage for bigger earnings later.

So yes! spending $19 billion+ in one quarter sounds massive, but in context it’s growth mode, not panic mode.

📊 GAAP Explained

Okay, here’s how to think about it:

Imagine you run a lemonade stand:

• You sell lemonade and make $100 in one week.
• You spend $30 on lemons, cups, and sugar.
• You make $70 profit.

That’s straightforward.

Now imagine you also buy a fancy new lemonade-machine that costs $50, and you pay $10 of that in the same week. According to accounting rules, you must show some part of that machine cost this week even though the machine will help you for many weeks.

GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) are like the rulebook you must follow. They force you to show costs and charges when they happen, even if they’re one-time or will benefit you for years.

For Meta:

• They had a one-time, non-cash tax charge of ~$15.93 billion this quarter.
• Because of that, their GAAP net income plunged (~83% drop) even though the business kept growing.
• In our lemonade analogy: you sold more lemonade, but you had to report the cost of that fancy machine and some weird tax rule this week , so your profit looks terrible on paper, but your stand is still growing and doing well.

Why this doesn’t change the core of Meta:

• The charges are one-time and mostly accounting adjustments. they don’t reflect a drop in ad sales or user engagement.
• Meta’s underlying business metrics (revenue, user growth, ad pricing) are strong.
• Their big investments (CapEx) are supporting future growth.
• So yes, the GAAP number looks ugly, but the business itself is healthy and ramping.

🤖 META Is a Money-Making Machine

While everyone panicked over the GAAP number, they missed the real story:
Meta’s advertising and AI business is thriving.

The company continues to print money through its massive ad ecosystem, which now benefits from next-generation AI tools that enhance targeting, engagement, and monetization.
This is not a struggling tech company.  it’s a production machine, an AI-powered revenue powerhouse.  And it’s on a nice sale.

💵 My Take

I’m adding more shares to my big portfolio.
I love a good dip  especially when it’s driven by short-term fear instead of fundamentals.

Once the dust settles and sentiment flips, I’ll be looking to buy calls for the rebound.

Meta didn’t lose its edge.  No way. nada.  the market just lost perspective.   If you got some money, buy LEAPs.

NFA.  just my opinion.