META Q1 2019 Earnings

Call Details

• Call Title: Meta Platforms, Inc. Q1 2019 Earnings Call
• Date: April 24, 2019 at 9:00 PM UTC
• Management Team:
  • Deborah Crawford (Vice President of Investor Relations)
  • Mark Zuckerberg (CEO)
  • Sheryl Sandberg (COO)
  • Dave Wehner (Chief Financial Officer)

Call Summary

Financial Performance

• Q1 total revenue was $15.1B, up 26% year over year and up 30% on a constant currency basis.
• Q1 total ad revenue was $14.9B, up 26% year over year and up 31% on a constant currency basis.
• Mobile ad revenue grew 30% year over year to $13.9B and represented approximately 93% of total ad revenue.
• Average price per ad decreased 4% year over year while ad impressions served increased 32% year over year.
• Facebook daily active users (DAU) reached 1.56B, up 8% year over year, and monthly active users (MAU) reached 2.38B, up 8% year over year.
• Family daily actives were approximately 2.1B and family monthly actives were around 2.7B in March.
• Payments and other fees revenue was $165M, down 4% year over year and down 40% sequentially from Q4.
• Operating income was $3.3B, representing a 22% operating margin, and net income was $2.4B or $0.85 per share.
• Q1 expenses were $11.8B, up 80% year over year, which includes a $3.0B accrual related to the FTC inquiry and an estimated total loss range of $3B to $5B.
• The company ended Q1 with approximately $45.2B in cash and investments and generated $5.3B in free cash flow.

Guidance

• The company expects revenue growth rates to decelerate sequentially throughout 2019 on a constant currency basis.
• The company anticipates ad targeting related headwinds to be more pronounced in the second half of 2019.
• Full-year 2019 total expenses are now expected to grow 47% to 55% versus 2018, increased from prior guidance of 40% to 50% growth.
• The $3.0B FTC accrual accounts for approximately 10 percentage points of the anticipated 2019 expense growth.
• Updated 2019 capital expenditures are guided to $17B to $19B, down from prior $18B to $20B.
• The company expects the tax rate for the remaining quarters of 2019 to be in the mid-teens.