Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) stock has popped in after-hours trade on Wall Street.
At the time of writing, the Facebook and Instagram owner's shares are up a massive 15% to US$453.01.
Investors have been scrambling to buy the tech behemoth's shares following the release of its quarterly update.
Meta stock pops on quarterly update
For the three months ended 31 December, Meta reported a 25% increase in revenue to US$40,111 million. This brought its revenue for 2023 to US$134,902 million, which represents an increase of 16% year on year.
Key drivers of its fourth quarter growth were an 8% increase in Family Daily Active People (DAP) to 3.19 billion, a 21% jump in ad impressions across its Family of Apps, and a 2% lift in the average price per ad.
Another positive was that its total costs and expenses reduced 8% during the fourth quarter to US$23.73 billion. This reduced its full year increase in costs to just 1%.
The sum of the above was earnings per share of US$5.33 for the quarter (up 203%) and US$14.87 for 2023 (up 73%).
Meta founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, commented:
We had a good quarter as our community and business continue to grow. We've made a lot of progress on our vision for advancing AI and the metaverse.
First ever dividend
A big surprise from the result was the announcement of the company's maiden dividend. Meta has declared a cash dividend of US$0.50 per share, which will be payable on 26 March.
This won't be the last dividend, with management stating that it "intend[s] to pay a cash dividend on a quarterly basis going forward, subject to market conditions and approval by our board of directors."
How does this compare to expectations?
As you might have guessed from the way that Meta stock has jumped this morning, this result was ahead of expectations.
According to CNBC, the market was expecting revenue of US$39.18 billion and earnings per share of US$4.96.
Whereas Meta delivered revenue of US$40.1 billion and earnings per share of US$5.33. In addition, its daily active users and average revenue per user metrics were also stronger than expected.
Outlook
Meta expects first quarter 2024 total revenue to be in the range of US$34.5 billion to US$37 billion.
This guidance assumes foreign currency is neutral to year-over-year total revenue growth, based on current exchange rates.
