Should Investors Consider Meta (META) or Snap's (SNAP) Stock After Q3 Earnings?

Core Insights - Meta Platforms and Snap exceeded earnings expectations but experienced stock declines of over -3% following their Q3 results [1] - Snap's user base and advertising doubled year-over-year, while Meta faced concerns over increased spending [1] Meta's Q3 Results - Meta's daily active users (DAUs) increased to 3.32 billion in Q3 from 3.19 billion year-over-year [2] - Q3 sales reached $40.58 billion, surpassing estimates of $40.2 billion, and rose 19% from $34.14 billion in the same quarter last year [2] - Q3 EPS was $6.03, beating expectations of $5.19 by 16% and increasing 37% from $4.39 a year ago [2] - Meta has exceeded earnings expectations for eight consecutive quarters with an average EPS surprise of 11.34% in the last four quarters [3] Financial Metrics - Meta's cash and equivalents stood at $43.85 billion, up from $41.86 billion at the end of Q3 2024, but down from $65.4 billion at the beginning of the year [5] - Earnings estimates for fiscal 2024 and FY25 have been revised upward, projecting a 44% increase in FY24 and a 13% increase in FY25 to $24.37 per share [5][6] Snap's Q3 Results - Snapchat's DAUs more than doubled to 443 million, with Q3 sales of $1.37 billion, exceeding estimates of $1.35 billion and increasing 16% from $1.18 billion in Q3 2023 [7] - Q3 EPS was $0.08, beating the Zacks Consensus of $0.05 and up from $0.02 in the same quarter last year [7] - Snap has met or exceeded the Zacks EPS Consensus for nine consecutive quarters, with an average earnings surprise of 58.57% in the last four quarters [8] Financial Outlook for Snap - Earnings estimate revisions for FY24 and FY25 have trended lower over the last 90 days, resulting in a Zacks Rank 4 (Sell) for Snap [8] - Snap shares are down -27% year-to-date as the company aims to maintain profitability since going public in 2017 [8]