Meta (NASDAQ:META) Beats Q4 CY2025 Sales Expectations

Social network operator Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) reported Q4 CY2025 results beating Wall Street’s revenue expectations, with sales up 23.8% year on year to $59.89 billion. On top of that, next quarter’s revenue guidance ($55 billion at the midpoint) was surprisingly good and 7.1% above what analysts were expecting. Its GAAP profit of $8.88 per share was 8% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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"We had strong business performance in 2025," said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO.

Company Overview

Famously founded by Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) operates a collection of the largest social networks in the world - Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, along with its metaverse focused Reality Labs.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Thankfully, Meta’s 19.9% annualized revenue growth over the last three years was impressive. Its growth surpassed the average consumer internet company and shows its offerings resonate with customers, a great starting point for our analysis.

This quarter, Meta reported robust year-on-year revenue growth of 23.8%, and its $59.89 billion of revenue topped Wall Street estimates by 2.5%. Company management is currently guiding for a 30% year-on-year increase in sales next quarter.

Looking further ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 17.9% over the next 12 months, a slight deceleration versus the last three years. We still think its growth trajectory is attractive given its scale and suggests the market sees success for its products and services.

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Daily Active People

User Growth

As a social network, Meta generates revenue growth by increasing its user base and charging advertisers more for the ads each user is shown.

Over the last two years, Meta’s daily active people, a key performance metric for the company, increased by 6.3% annually to 3.58 billion in the latest quarter. This growth rate is slightly below average for a consumer internet business and is largely a function of its already massive scale and penetrated market. If Meta wants to reach the next level, it likely needs to innovate with new products.

In Q4, Meta added 230 million daily active people, leading to 6.9% year-on-year growth. The quarterly print isn’t too different from its two-year result, suggesting its new initiatives aren’t accelerating user growth just yet.

Revenue Per User

Average revenue per user (ARPU) is a critical metric to track because it measures how much the company earns from the ads shown to its users. ARPU can also be a proxy for how valuable advertisers find Meta’s audience and its ad-targeting capabilities.

Meta’s ARPU growth has been exceptional over the last two years, averaging 14.8%. Its ability to increase monetization while growing its daily active people demonstrates its platform’s value, as its users are spending significantly more than last year.

This quarter, Meta’s ARPU clocked in at $16.73. It grew by 15.8% year on year, faster than its daily active people.

Key Takeaways from Meta’s Q4 Results

We were impressed by Meta’s optimistic revenue guidance for next quarter, which blew past analysts’ expectations. As for the quarter, Daily Active People, revenue and EPS both outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a solid quarter with some key areas of upside. The stock traded up 3.7% to $692.30 immediately following the results.

Meta may have had a good quarter, but does that mean you should invest right now? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).