Meta Platforms just gave investors a reason to think bigger than banner ads. The company posted third-quarter 2026 revenue of $64.6 billion, up 26% year-over-year, and shares climbed more than 4% in after-hours trading.
The numbers behind the jump
Wall Street’s consensus estimate for the quarter sat at approximately $63.37 billion. Meta cleared that bar with room to spare.
Advertising still did most of the heavy lifting. Ad sales rose 26% to $63.1 billion, which means ads accounted for nearly all of the quarter’s revenue.
Meta guided fourth-quarter revenue to a range of $73 billion to $76 billion.
Shares closed the regular session at $697.52 and were trading around $726 after hours, a gain of more than 4%.
Muse and the case for AI as a business
The centerpiece of Meta’s AI story this quarter was Muse, its AI agent. The product reached more than 10 million accounts across the US and Canada within six weeks of launch.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized that AI could become a significant source of revenue for the company. He framed it as an opportunity that could potentially grow larger than the traditional advertising model over time.
The price tag for the AI push
Meta tightened its full-year 2026 capital expenditure outlook to a range of $135 billion to $145 billion. The previous range was $130 billion to $145 billion.
That money is going into data centers, chips and the infrastructure needed to train and run AI models.
Free cash flow turned negative in the third quarter at -$2.12 billion, compared with $10.63 billion in the same period a year earlier.
A new share class enters the picture
Meta also announced plans for a new class of non-voting Class C shares. The company intends to distribute them as a dividend in January 2027.
Non-voting shares give holders an economic stake in the company without any say in corporate decisions. The structure is designed to help support Meta’s AI initiatives without diluting control over the company.
What this means for investors and the AI trade
With ad revenue up 26%, the company showed it can pour tens of billions into infrastructure without the core engine stalling, despite negative free cash flow.
The source material does not detail how Meta plans to monetize Muse. Until that path becomes clearer, the AI-revenue thesis remains a forecast rather than a result.
The next checkpoint is the fourth quarter. Hitting the $73 billion to $76 billion guidance range, along with any update on how Muse is generating money, will show whether this quarter’s optimism was well placed.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.