Meta Platforms Inc. (META) - Stock report

Meta Platforms Inc. owns free social apps — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger — used by billions of people who pay nothing to use them. What Meta effectively monetizes is their attention. Marketers pay to place ads in front of that audience as people scroll, and this advertising supplies nearly all of Meta's revenue and profit. Meta groups these apps into one segment called Family of Apps. A separate arm, Reality Labs, builds virtual-reality headsets and AI glasses; it earns very little and loses money while developing technology aimed at the next decade. One advertising business pays for everything, including a costly bet on future computing products.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2026, revenue rose 28% to $60.8 billion. The number of ads shown rose 14% and the average price per ad rose 12% from a year earlier. Because the platform is already operating at enormous scale, higher ad prices can lift profit faster than revenue if costs remain controlled.

Meta plans to spend $130 to $145 billion in 2026 on computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence. Heavy infrastructure spending left only $800 million of free cash flow in the quarter, despite $31.9 billion of operating cash flow. The open question is whether that investment eventually supports enough additional revenue, efficiency, and cash generation to justify its cost.