Meta Platforms Inc.
🔔 Watch stock
Assessment
Our Rating
A journalistic assessment by our editorial team at the time of the deep dive — it rates the company, not the entry point. Not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell.
The business works in principle, but one material question is open. As long as it stays open, our findings do not carry a quality verdict.
Why this colour
The business itself is beyond doubt: an advertising operation with a 48 percent segment margin, $115.8 billion of operating cash flow in 2025 and 3.56 billion daily users is a moat few companies can match. The balance sheet is sound, interest coverage is not remotely an issue, and there is no going-concern language anywhere. What remains open is an operational question, and it is a big one: whether $125 to $145 billion of annual capital spending ever converts into returns is unproven — free cash flow in 2025, at $43.6 billion, sits where it sat in 2023, even though operating cash flow rose 63 percent. Add roughly $420 billion of lease and purchase commitments outside the balance sheet, a segment that has burned $53 billion in three years, and a quarterly profit whose top line owes a third of itself to the tax line. When the evidence sits between two levels, we take the more cautious one. The decision is yours.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Meta runs one of the most profitable advertising businesses on earth: a 48 percent operating margin in the Family of Apps segment in the quarter ended March 31, 2026, $115,800 million of operating cash flow in 2025 and 3.56 billion daily active people. The price sits in the same filings: $125,000 to $145,000 million of planned capital spending for 2026, free cash flow that has not grown since 2023, $25,000 million of new notes maturing as far out as 2066, $53,042 million of cumulative Reality Labs losses and roughly $420 billion of commitments that appear in no balance sheet line. Not investment advice.
Earning power of the advertising business
The Family of Apps segment turned $55,909 million of revenue into $26,900 million of income from operations in the quarter ended March 31, 2026 — a 48 percent margin. Ad impressions rose 19 percent and the average price per ad 12 percent. Operating cash flow reached $115,800 million in 2025 (10-K 2025, 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026).
Balance sheet and liquidity
As of March 31, 2026, $243,681 million of stockholders' equity and $81,180 million of cash plus marketable securities stood against $58,748 million of reported debt. Even after the May 4, 2026 offering of $25,000 million, interest coverage is nowhere near critical: $83,276 million of 2025 operating income against $2,980 million of short-term interest obligations.
Capital spending without proof of return
Operating cash flow rose from $71,113 million (2023) to $115,800 million (2025), up 63 percent. Free cash flow was flat over the same period at $43,010 million and $43,585 million, because capital spending climbed from $28,103 million to $72,215 million. For 2026 the company guides to $125,000–145,000 million (10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026).
Earnings quality and taxes
Net income of $26,773 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2026 exceeded income before taxes of $21,752 million, because the tax line was a benefit of $5,021 million — including an $8,030 million one-off from the transitional relief for the corporate minimum tax. In 2025 the same mechanism ran the other way: a $15.93 billion charge in the third quarter.
Off-balance-sheet commitments
As of March 31, 2026, Note 8 of the quarterly report discloses $182.88 billion of leases not yet commenced (December 31, 2025: $103.77 billion), $237.67 billion of non-cancelable contractual commitments and up to $14.72 billion of contingent cloud purchases. None of it sits on the balance sheet, whose equity is $243,681 million.
Reality Labs and governance
Reality Labs lost $53,042 million between 2023 and 2025 on barely growing revenue; Meta expects 2026 losses in line with the prior year (10-K 2025). At the same time the Class B shares, with ten votes each, decide every vote: the shareholder proposal to end that structure failed on May 27, 2026 by 1.31 billion votes to 3.65 billion (8-K filed May 29, 2026).
Worth Noting
Hook: ranking of the 100 largest U.S. stocks by market capitalization (as of July 28, 2026); Meta stood at number 8 and had no analysis yet.
Data as of: annual figures from the Form 10-K for 2025 (filed January 29, 2026) and for 2024 (filed January 30, 2025), quarterly figures from the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 (filed April 30, 2026), valuation multiples as of July 29, 2026. Every filing from April 29, 2026 onward was reviewed, including the earnings release (8-K Item 2.02 of April 29, 2026), the note offering (424B2 of April 30 and May 1, 2026; 8-K of May 4, 2026) and the annual meeting (8-K Item 5.07 of May 29, 2026).
Possible confusion: Meta Platforms was named "Facebook Inc" until October 27, 2021. The ticker META belonged to Meta Financial Group until June 2022; that company trades today as Pathward Financial under the ticker CASH. Historical series for the symbol META can easily point to the wrong company.
One-off effects: both 2025 (a $15.93 billion tax charge in the third quarter) and the quarter ended March 31, 2026 (an $8.03 billion tax benefit) contain opposing one-off effects from changes in law. Growth rates in net income cannot be read without that context.
Analyses are evergreen; a daily share price is not an argument to buy.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of August 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at META since then.
Later $1 a month per stock — signing up is free, and you'll be the first to know when it launches.
Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 525.70 $ to 780.30 $ · Last price: 682.30 $ (As of: September 17, 2026)
Key figures
Key figures at a glance
Every figure we hold for this stock, grouped by topic. The question mark next to a label explains what the number means.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 09/18/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
Quality & Screener
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Comparison
Industry comparison
The stock alongside the largest companies in the same group. The median row is the middle value of the companies shown above — not of the whole industry.
Industry: Internet Content & Information
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Platforms Inc. META | 1,737.1 | 25.4 | 14.9 | 81.8 | 40.6 | 22.2 | -11.8 |
| Alphabet Inc Class A GOOGL | 4,238.0 | 26.1 | 12.3 | 60.9 | 36.1 | 15.1 | 39.6 |
| Alphabet Inc Class C GOOG | 4,226.7 | 25.7 | 12.3 | 60.9 | 36.1 | 15.1 | 37.9 |
| Spotify Technology SA SPOT | 108.7 | 39.3 | 23.1 | 32.8 | 15.8 | 9.7 | -25.2 |
| Nebius Group N.V. NBIS | 48.1 | – | 50.6 | 74.3 | – | – | 131.7 |
| Reddit, Inc. RDDT | 31.1 | 44.2 | 35.5 | 91.4 | 27.6 | 69.4 | -42.7 |
| Baidu Inc BIDU | 30.5 | – | 51.2 | 40.9 | 10.0 | -3.0 | -28.5 |
| Tencent Music Entertainment Group TME | 12.8 | 9.3 | 6.9 | 44.3 | 30.4 | 15.9 | -68.5 |
| Match Group Inc MTCH | 10.3 | 18.3 | 11.7 | 74.9 | 27.4 | 0.2 | 19.1 |
| Median of companies shown | 48.1 | 25.7 | 14.9 | 60.9 | 29.0 | 15.1 | -11.8 |
Based on the most recently reported figures. Only stocks from the same trading venue are lined up, so the market caps are counted in one currency. Compare in a chart →
Fiscal years
Annual Figures
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Revenue, operating income and net income per fiscal year $M
Revenue Operating income Net income
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 27,638 | 12,427 | 10,217 | 3.49 | 16,108 | 59,194 | 64,961 |
| 2017 | 40,653 | 20,203 | 15,934 | 5.39 | 24,216 | 74,347 | 84,524 |
| 2018 | 55,838 | 24,913 | 22,112 | 7.57 | 29,274 | 84,127 | 97,334 |
| 2019 | 70,697 | 23,986 | 18,485 | 6.43 | 36,314 | 101,054 | 133,376 |
| 2020 | 85,965 | 32,671 | 29,146 | 10.09 | 38,747 | 128,290 | 159,316 |
| 2021 | 117,929 | 46,753 | 39,370 | 13.77 | 57,683 | 124,879 | 165,987 |
| 2022 | 116,609 | 28,944 | 23,200 | 8.59 | 50,475 | 125,713 | 185,727 |
| 2023 | 134,902 | 46,751 | 39,098 | 14.87 | 71,113 | 153,168 | 229,623 |
| 2024 | 164,501 | 69,380 | 62,360 | 23.86 | 91,328 | 182,637 | 276,054 |
| 2025 | 200,966 | 83,276 | 60,458 | 23.49 | 115,800 | 217,243 | 366,021 |
Quarters
Quarterly Figures
Each bar is one quarter, the last one is the most recent. Use the switch to step through the individual figures.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
These companies report in different currencies — switch on “Indexed” or pick a margin for a fair comparison.
The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 7.97 | 49.60 | 48,385 | 20.60 | 43.10 | 27,988 | 13,563 |
| 2025: Q1 | 6.43 | 36.40 | 42,314 | 16.10 | 39.30 | 24,026 | 11,085 |
| 2025: Q2 | 7.14 | 38.30 | 47,516 | 21.60 | 38.60 | 25,561 | 9,023 |
| 2025: Q3 | 1.05 | -82.50 | 51,242 | 26.20 | 5.30 | 29,999 | 11,170 |
| 2025: Q4 | 8.85 | 11.00 | 59,894 | 23.80 | 38.00 | 36,214 | 14,831 |
| 2026: Q1 | 10.44 | 62.50 | 56,311 | 33.10 | 47.50 | 32,226 | 13,229 |
| 2026: Q2 | 6.18 | -13.40 | 60,801 | 28.00 | 26.10 | 31,862 | 1,746 |
What Do These Terms Mean?
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Screening
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 6 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Backtested Scanners
Growth
Aktien.Guide
Research
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
Outlook
Analysts & Price Target
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Distribution of Recommendations
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | 31.43 | 27.78 – 33.65 | 254,194 | 5.1% | 54 |
| 12/31/2027 | 33.94 | 27.93 – 40.31 | 305,929 | 12.1% | 52 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Valuation
What is priced in?
Instead of guessing what the stock is worth, we turn the question around: what free cash flow growth has to happen for today’s market value to add up? The assumptions behind it can be moved.
Today’s market value implies roughly 17.9% growth in free cash flow per year over ten years (assumptions: discount rate 10.0%, terminal growth 2.5%).
| Free cash flow (last twelve months) | $40.98B |
|---|---|
| Market cap | $1.74T |
| Free cash flow in year ten | $213.30B |
| Terminal value as a share of market value | 64.7% |
For comparison: over the past five years free cash flow grew by 14.3% per year.
It shows which assumption is built into today’s price, not whether that assumption will hold. Every assumption can be changed with the sliders; the figures move with them.
A simplified model calculation — not a forecast and not a recommendation.
AI classification
AI Rating
Meta setzt KI an zwei Stellen ein, die unmittelbar Umsatz tragen: als KI-gestützte Werbewerkzeuge und Empfehlungssysteme, aus denen praktisch der gesamte Konzernumsatz stammt, und als verkaufte Hardware — die KI-Brillen Ray-Ban Meta und Oakley Meta mit dem Assistenten Meta AI.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Across all of these efforts, we are making significant investments in AI initiatives, including generative AI and superintelligence, to, among other things, recommend relevant content across our products through our AI-powered discovery engine, enhance our advertising tools and improve our ad delivery, targeting, and measurement capabilities, and to develop new products as well as new features for existing products."
Über alle diese Anstrengungen hinweg tätigen wir erhebliche Investitionen in KI-Initiativen, einschließlich generativer KI und Superintelligenz, um unter anderem über unsere KI-gestützte Entdeckungs-Engine relevante Inhalte in unseren Produkten zu empfehlen, unsere Werbewerkzeuge zu verbessern und unsere Fähigkeiten bei Anzeigenauslieferung, Zielgruppenansprache und Messung zu erhöhen sowie neue Produkte und neue Funktionen für bestehende Produkte zu entwickeln.
10-K · 2026-01-29 · View SEC filing
„Our current AI glasses include the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses, which feature Meta AI, our advanced conversational assistant, as well as other features such as hands-free interaction."
Zu unseren derzeitigen KI-Brillen gehören die Ray-Ban-Meta- und die Oakley-Meta-Brille, die Meta AI, unseren fortgeschrittenen Gesprächsassistenten, sowie weitere Funktionen wie die freihändige Bedienung enthalten.
10-K · 2026-01-29 · View SEC filing
„We anticipate making capital expenditures of approximately $125 billion to $145 billion in 2026 to support our AI efforts and core business."
Wir rechnen für 2026 mit Investitionen von rund 125 bis 145 Milliarden US-Dollar zur Unterstützung unserer KI-Anstrengungen und unseres Kerngeschäfts.
10-Q · 2026-04-30 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-04-30 · 10-K 2026-01-29 · 10-Q 2025-10-30 · 10-Q 2025-07-31 · 10-Q 2025-05-01 · 10-K 2025-01-30
Rated on July 29, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Growth
Growth Score
Ten checks against the annual reports — each one passed counts a point.
- Revenue grows by more than 15% a year over three years 19.9%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year 19.5%
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year -1.6%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") 45.1%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 82.0%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 6.7%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA 0.0 x EBITDA
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 116,325 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago 25.7%
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers 0.1%
A criterion without figures counts neither as passed nor as failed; a score is only produced from 7 judgeable criteria upwards. Source: fundamental data. All ten criteria in detail
Quality check
AAQS
10/10 Quality stockThe AAQS (AlleAktien Quality Score) checks 10 quality criteria on growth, profitability, and balance-sheet strength — per the methodology developed and published by AlleAktien, calculated by us from our own fundamental data. A stock counts as a quality stock from 9 out of 10 points. Where a company has a shorter listing history, we calculate over the fiscal years available (at least five).
- Sales growth 10Y > 5% 24.7%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% 23.4%
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% 23.5%
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% 20.2%
- Net debt < 4x EBIT 0.0x
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 10
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% 38.1%
- Return on equity > 15% 32.0%
- ROCE > 15% 25.7%
- Expected return > 10% 23.4%
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
Insiders
Insider Transactions
Reportable transactions by officers and major shareholders from SEC Form 4 filings. "Other" includes things like stock grants and option exercises without a buy/sell character.
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 14, 2026 | Olivan Javier | Chief Operating Officer | Sell | 408 | 657.73 | 268,354 |
| Sep 14, 2026 | Olivan Javier | Chief Operating Officer | Sell | 57 | 657.73 | 37,491 |
| Sep 14, 2026 | Olivan Javier | Chief Operating Officer | Sell | 82 | 657.73 | 53,934 |
| Sep 14, 2026 | Olivan Javier | Chief Operating Officer | Sell | 946 | 657.73 | 622,213 |
| Sep 9, 2026 | Cox Christopher K | Chief Product Officer | Sell | 1,422 | 651.15 | 925,935 |
| Sep 9, 2026 | Cox Christopher K | Chief Product Officer | Sell | 18,578 | 650.21 | 12,079,640 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Olivan Javier | Chief Operating Officer | Sell | 157 | 619.11 | 97,200 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Olivan Javier | Chief Operating Officer | Sell | 304 | 618.00 | 187,873 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Olivan Javier | Chief Operating Officer | Sell | 473 | 616.79 | 291,740 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Olivan Javier | Chief Operating Officer | Sell | 354 | 615.88 | 218,021 |
The company
About the Company
Meta Platforms, Inc. entwickelt Produkte, mit denen Menschen sich über Mobilgeräte, PCs, Virtual-Reality-Headsets und KI-Brillen mit Freunden und Familie vernetzen und austauschen können – in den USA, Kanada, Europa, dem asiatisch-pazifischen Raum und international.
- Employees
- 75,472
- Headquarters
- Menlo Park, CA
- Address
- 1 Meta Way, 94025 Menlo Park, United States
- Phone
- 650 543 4800
- Website
- meta.com
- IPO Date
- 05/18/2012
- ISIN
- US30303M1027
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Elliot Zuckerberg | Founder, Chairman & CEO | 1984 |
| Dina Powell McCormick | President & Vice Chairman | 1974 |
| Susan J. S. Li | Chief Financial Officer | 1986 |
| Javier Olivan | Chief Operating Officer | 1977 |
| Andrew Bosworth | Chief Technology Officer | 1982 |
| Christopher K. Cox | Chief Product Officer | 1983 |
| Dana White | Independent Director | 1970 |
| Aaron A. Anderson | Chief Accounting Officer | – |
| Atish Banerjea | Chief Information Officer | 1966 |
| Henry T. A. Moniz | Chief Compliance Officer | 1965 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Filings
Company Filings (8-K)
An 8-K is the filing a US company must use to disclose material events immediately — takeovers, changes at the top, major contracts or payment troubles, for instance. The links open the original document at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- 07/29/2026 Meta Platforms, Inc. (META): Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
Data as of: September 17, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.