Meta Q3 revenue rose 26% to US$64.60 billion, beating market expectations as advertising growth and early demand for the company's Muse artificial-intelligence agent supported the Facebook parent's results. Meta said more than 10 million people in the United States and Canada had set up Muse accounts since its August launch.
Shares gained in after-hours trading, but the report also showed the cost of Meta's AI push. The company narrowed its 2026 capital-spending forecast to US$135 billion-US$145 billion and recorded a US$9.89 billion charge tied to a multistate legal settlement.
Meta Q3 revenue beats expectations
Meta reported quarterly revenue of US$64.60 billion, up from US$51.24 billion a year earlier. The figure exceeded the US$63.34 billion average estimate cited by The Associated Press. Net income reached US$9.86 billion, or US$3.83 a share, compared with US$2.71 billion, or US$1.05 a share, in the prior-year quarter.
The year-on-year profit comparison was heavily affected by one-off items in both periods. Meta said earnings would have been US$7.40 a share without the third-quarter charge related to its agreement with US state attorneys general. The previous year's quarter included a large tax charge.
Costs and expenses climbed 68% to US$51.61 billion, while operating income fell 37% to US$12.99 billion. The operating margin narrowed to 20% from 40%. Those figures, published in Meta's official earnings release, highlight the tension between strong revenue growth and the rising cost of infrastructure, legal settlements and new products.
Muse passes 10 million accounts
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the US and Canada had created Muse accounts, with roughly one quarter using the AI agent on a typical day. Muse is designed to help adults with schedules, shopping and other daily tasks.
Meta expects to improve the cost efficiency of running Muse by more than tenfold over the next year, according to comments reported after the company's Q3 earnings call. That target matters because serving AI agents at large scale requires substantial computing capacity, while monetisation is still developing.
The company's family of apps averaged 3.64 billion daily active users in September, up 3% from a year earlier. That audience gives Meta an unusually large distribution channel for AI tools across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.
AI spending remains the central investor test
Meta now expects 2026 capital expenditure of US$135 billion-US$145 billion, lifting the bottom of its previous US$130 billion-US$145 billion range. The spending supports data centres, AI hardware and software development, while the company also continues to invest in its core advertising systems.
The scale of that programme makes Meta's results relevant beyond its own shares. AI infrastructure demand affects chipmakers, cloud providers, energy suppliers and data-centre operators. Asian markets were already weighing strong US technology earnings against financing costs and Gulf tensions, according to Reuters market coverage.
The earnings follow another busy stretch for large technology companies. BullBuzz reported that Tesla's Q3 profit fell 43% even as cash flow improved, while SpaceX posted a US$4.4 billion quarterly profit. Earlier, Netflix shares fell after an advertising forecast cut.
For the fourth quarter, Meta forecast revenue of US$73 billion-US$76 billion. The midpoint is above the analyst estimate cited by AP, offering support to the growth story. Investors will now focus on whether Muse engagement turns into revenue quickly enough to justify higher infrastructure costs, and whether Meta can keep its core advertising business growing while funding one of the industry's largest AI investment programmes.