SuperworthMeta Platforms META
- Market cap
- $1.6T
- PE
- 21.9×
- 10y median 28.4×
- Forward PE
- 20.0×
- 10y median 23.6×
- Price to sales
- 6.8×
- EV/EBIT
- 20.3×
- Revenue, 12 months
- $241.6B
- +28% on a year ago
- Net margin
- 31.1%
- Free cash flow yield
- 1.8%
A Superworth story
Meta's sales are surging. Its cash is not.
A normal multiple of earnings, a rare one of cash, and a bet that the build-out pays
Sales are growing the fastest since 2021
Meta's revenue nearly doubled in three years, to 228 billion dollars over the last twelve months. Growth sped up to 27.7 percent, the fastest since 2021. The question is how much of that new revenue reaches shareholders as cash.
Margins rolled over as costs jumped
Meta now keeps 38 cents of every sales dollar as operating profit over twelve months, down from 44 at the mid 2025 peak. About half the fall came in the latest quarter, when costs ran more than half above a year earlier: research spending, wear on new data centers, and legal and layoff charges. The latest quarter alone kept 30.9 cents.
Earnings stalled, blurred by one-off tax items
Twelve-month earnings per share are 26.55 dollars, a little below a year ago, and one-off tax items cut both ways. A tax charge all but erased Q3 2025, while a tax benefit lifted Q1 2026. Q3 2025 drops out of the count with the next report. Its replacement carries a legal charge of about 10 billion dollars for the teen safety settlement with the states, which will hold back the rise.
Cash flow is back where it was in late 2023
Free cash flow, the cash left after paying for data centers and equipment, is 41 billion dollars over the last year. That is about where it was in late 2023 and a quarter below its 2024 peak. So the stock costs about 44 times its cash, more than on almost any day of the last ten years.
Data center spending is outrunning the cash
Capital spending, mostly data centers and servers, has climbed steeply on this chart, and Meta set 2026's at 130 to 145 billion dollars including finance leases. Free cash flow over twelve months has already fallen from 50.1 billion dollars a year ago to 41.0 billion, even as revenue grew 27.7 percent. The build-out is what the cash now has to carry.
On earnings, an ordinary price for Meta
The PE, price over the last year's reported earnings, is about 27, close to its usual level of the last three and ten years. Its industry peers sit nearer 20. Those earnings carry last year's tax charge, only partly offset by this year's tax benefit.
The price assumes the spending pays back
At today's price, consensus earnings put Meta at about 23 times the next twelve months, near its usual level (past forward PEs are rebuilt with today's estimates). Consensus sees revenue up about a fifth. Founder Mark Zuckerberg now has products to charge for: Muse, a personal AI agent, and Meta One subscriptions. The test comes October 21: whether cash starts to climb back as the new data centers earn.
What has happened lately
- Meta, Meta launches Meta One subscriptions across Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Meta AIMeta's first broad consumer and creator subscription, priced from $2.99 to $499 a month, adds a revenue line outside advertising against AI spending.
- Meta, Meta launches Muse, a personal AI agent that carries out tasks for peopleMuse sends emails, books travel and fills out forms, free for most uses with paid plans for more. It is the clearest product yet for the data centers Meta is building.
- Meta, Meta settles state attorneys general teen-harm case for up to $18 billion over 10 yearsMeta expects a roughly $10 billion legal charge in Q3, reported October 21, plus annual payments over a decade and new default limits for teen users.
- Meta, Meta reports second quarter 2026 resultsCosts rose 55% with legal and severance charges, and Meta set 2026 capital spending at $130-145 billion including finance leases, the build-out its cash flow now has to carry.
Headlines link to the original source.
Brought to you by Superworth
Why a stock is priced where it is, one chart at a time.
Charts
Financials
| Income statement | Q4 FY23 | Q1 FY24 | Q2 FY24 | Q3 FY24 | Q4 FY24 | Q1 FY25 | Q2 FY25 | Q3 FY25 | Q4 FY25 | Q1 FY26 | Q2 FY26 | Q3 FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $40.1B+25% | $36.5B+27% | $39.1B+22% | $40.6B+19% | $48.4B+21% | $42.3B+16% | $47.5B+22% | $51.2B+26% | $59.9B+24% | $56.3B+33% | $60.8B+28% | $64.6B+26% | |
| Cost of revenue | $7.7B−8% | $6.6B+9% | $7.3B+23% | $7.4B+19% | $8.8B+15% | $7.6B+14% | $8.5B+16% | $9.2B+25% | $10.9B+23% | $10.2B+35% | $11.3B+33% | $13.4B+45% |
| Gross profit | $32.4B+36% | $29.8B+32% | $31.8B+22% | $33.2B+19% | $39.5B+22% | $34.7B+17% | $39B+23% | $42B+27% | $49B+24% | $46.1B+33% | $49.5B+27% | n/a |
| R&D | $10.5B+8% | $10B+6% | $10.5B+13% | $11.2B+21% | $12.2B+16% | $12.2B+22% | $12.9B+23% | $15.1B+36% | $17.1B+41% | $17.7B+46% | $21.7B+67% | $20.1B+32% |
| SG&A | $5.5B−28% | $6B+2% | $6.4B−13% | $4.7B−5% | $4B−27% | $5B−16% | $5.6B−12% | $6.4B+36% | $7.1B+78% | $5.5B+10% | $9B+60% | n/a |
| $16.4B+156% | $13.8B+91% | $14.8B+58% | $17.4B+26% | $23.4B+43% | $17.6B+27% | $20.4B+38% | $20.5B+18% | $24.7B+6% | $22.9B+30% | $18.8B−8% | $13B−37% | |
| Interest expense | $155M | n/a | n/a | $200M+52% | $275M+77% | n/a | $232M | n/a | n/a | n/a | $754M+225% | n/a |
| Pre-tax income | $16.8B+173% | $14.2B+94% | $15.1B+63% | $17.8B+27% | $23.6B+40% | $18.4B+30% | $20.5B+36% | $21.7B+22% | $25.4B+8% | $21.8B+18% | $18.8B−9% | $13B−40% |
| $2.8B+87% | $1.8B+14% | $1.6B+9% | $2.1B−12% | $2.7B−3% | $1.7B−4% | $2.2B+34% | $19B+788% | $2.6B−5% | −$5B | $2.9B+32% | $3.1B−83% | |
| Net income | $14B+201% | $12.4B+117% | $13.5B+73% | $15.7B+35% | $20.8B+49% | $16.6B+35% | $18.3B+36% | $2.7B−83% | $22.8B+9% | $26.8B+61% | $15.8B−14% | $9.9B+264% |
| $5.33+203% | $4.71+114% | $5.16+73% | $6.03+37% | $8.02+51% | $6.43+37% | $7.14+38% | $1.05−83% | $8.88+11% | $10.44+62% | $6.18−13% | $3.83+265% | |
| 2.6B−0% | 2.6B+1% | 2.6B−0% | 2.6B−2% | 2.6B−1% | 2.6B−1% | 2.6B−2% | 2.6B−1% | 2.6B−1% | 2.6B−1% | 2.6B−0% | 2.6B+0% |
Revenue: Q1 FY11 and Q1 FY12: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them.
Cost of revenue: Q1 FY11 and Q1 FY12: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them.
Gross profit: Q1 FY11 and Q1 FY12: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them. 60 periods, Q2 FY11 to Q2 FY26: not printed by the filing, worked out from its own lines.
R&D: Q1 FY11 and Q1 FY12: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them.
SG&A: Q1 FY11 and Q1 FY12: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them.
Operating income: Q1 FY11 and Q1 FY12: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them.
Interest expense: Q1 FY11: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them.
Pre-tax income: Q1 FY11 and Q1 FY12: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them.
Income tax: Q1 FY11 and Q1 FY12: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them.
Net income: Q1 FY11 and Q1 FY12: 6 months less the 3 months printed beside them. 13 periods, Q4 FY12 to Q4 FY25: printed in the fourth-quarter results release.
EPS, diluted: 3 periods, Q1 FY11 to Q3 FY16: quarter's net income to common over its shares, to the cent. 14 periods, Q4 FY12 to Q4 FY25: printed in the fourth-quarter results release.
Diluted shares: Q1 FY11: share-days: the 6-month average less the second quarter's. Q4 FY11: share-days: the 12-month average less the 9-month, weighted by days. 14 periods, Q4 FY12 to Q4 FY25: printed in the fourth-quarter results release.
From each company's 10-Q and 10-K filings, the newest version of each figure. Quarters are as filed (a fourth quarter is the year less its first nine months), fiscal years as the 10-K prints them, restated where a later 10-K restated them, and balance sheet lines as of the period's end. A quarter whose 10-Q isn't filed yet is from the company's results release. Growth is on the same period a year earlier. A dash is a period with no figure for the line: the filing doesn't print it, or it hasn't been read yet. Figures from older filings without data tags, and from a results release before its 10-Q, are read from the document's text and checked against it.
Estimates
Next earnings report: .
| Quarter | Revenue | Range | EPS | Range | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 FY26 | $74.9B | $74.2B to $75.7B | $8.35 | $8.10 to $8.82 | 26 |
| Q1 FY27 | $68.2B | $67.2B to $69.6B | $7.56 | $6.21 to $9.09 | 18 |
| Q2 FY27 | $73.8B | $72.2B to $75.4B | $7.81 | $7.60 to $8.03 | 8 |
| Q3 FY27 | $78.2B | $76.5B to $79.8B | $8.36 | $8.13 to $8.59 | 12 |
| Q4 FY27 | $90.8B | $88.9B to $92.8B | $10.15 | $9.87 to $10.44 | 8 |
| Q1 FY28 | $82.2B | $80.5B to $84B | $8.76 | $8.52 to $9.01 | 17 |
| Q2 FY28 | $88.9B | $87B to $90.8B | $8.82 | $8.58 to $9.07 | 11 |
| Q3 FY28 | $94.3B | $92.3B to $96.3B | $9.75 | $9.48 to $10.02 | 9 |
Peers
Companies in Communication Services nearest Meta Platforms' size, closest first.
| Company | Market cap | PE | Its 10y median PE | Fwd PE | P/S | Revenue growth | Net margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| METAMeta Platforms | $1.6T | 21.9× | 28.4× | 20.0× | 6.8× | +28% | 31.1% |
| GOOGAlphabet | $3.9T | 15.9× | 27.9× | 23.6× | 8.7× | +20% | 54.8% |
| NFLXNetflix | $274.2B | 19.0× | 59.0× | 18.3× | 5.5× | +15% | 29.7% |
| DISWalt Disney | $194.3B | 23.2× | 21.6× | 14.9× | 2.0× | +5% | 8.7% |
| VZVerizon Communications | $185.6B | 11.6× | 11.8× | 8.7× | 1.3× | +1% | 11.6% |
| Peer median | $234.2B | 17.5× | 24.8× | 16.6× | 3.7× | +10% | 20.7% |
Investors who own it
Investors we follow who held Meta Platforms at the end of Jun 30, 2026, from their 13F filings.
- Bill AckmanPershing Square9.2% of portfolioadded
- ValueAct CapitalValueAct Capital9.2% of portfolio
- Brad GerstnerAltimeter Capital7.8% of portfoliotrimmed
- Chase ColemanTiger Global Management6.6% of portfoliotrimmed
- François RochonGiverny Capital5.7% of portfoliotrimmed
- David TepperAppaloosa5.1% of portfolioadded
- Terry SmithFundsmith4.3% of portfoliotrimmed
- Lee AinslieMaverick Capital3.9% of portfolionew
- Andreas HalvorsenViking Global Investors3.0% of portfolioadded
- Philippe LaffontCoatue Management2.9% of portfoliotrimmed
- Gavin BakerAtreides Management2.0% of portfolionew
- Baillie GiffordBaillie Gifford1.6% of portfoliotrimmed
More on Meta Platforms
Each number over time
- PE ratio
- Forward PE
- Price to sales ratio
- EV/EBIT
- Price to free cash flow
- Price to book ratio
- Dividend yield
- Market cap
- Revenue
- EPS
- Free cash flow
- Profit margin
- Shares outstanding
Where it ranks
- #5of 102Communication services stocks with the highest profit margins
- #6of 16Communication services stocks with the fastest expected revenue growth
- #9of 15Communication services stocks with the lowest forward PE
Its groups
About
- Chief executive
- Mark Zuckerberg, since 2004FounderFounded Facebook in 2004, also chair. Source
- Industry
- Internet Content & Information
- Sector
- Communication Services
Valuation data, not investment advice. Prices as of .