软件与服务行业专题研究：美股科技股观察|24Q3业绩跟踪-Meta：业绩延续较高增长，AI赋能持续体现

Investment Rating - The report maintains a positive outlook on the software and services industry, particularly focusing on Meta's performance and growth potential in AI and advertising sectors [2]. Core Insights - Meta's Q3 2024 revenue reached $40.589 billion, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 18.9%, with net profit rising by 35.4% to $15.688 billion, indicating strong financial health despite a slight slowdown in growth [9][18]. - The company is experiencing robust user growth across its platforms, with daily active users (DAP) reaching 3.29 billion, a 5% increase year-over-year, and average revenue per user (ARPPU) growing by 12.4% to $12.29 [19][21]. - AI-driven recommendations are significantly enhancing user engagement, with Meta's AI tools being utilized by over 1 million advertisers to create more than 15 million ads, leading to a 7% increase in conversion rates for businesses using image generation [35][36]. Summary by Sections 1. Revenue Growth and Profitability - Meta's Q3 2024 operating income was $17.35 billion, with an operating margin of 42.7%, showing a significant improvement from previous quarters [9][10]. - Capital expenditures for Q3 2024 were $9.2 billion, a 36% increase year-over-year, primarily for investments in servers and data centers [10][18]. 2. User Growth and Advertising Strength - The Family of Apps segment generated $40.32 billion in revenue, with advertising revenue growing by 18.6% year-over-year [18][28]. - Reality Labs reported a revenue of $270 million, but continued to incur significant losses of $4.428 billion, indicating challenges in monetizing this segment [18][33]. 3. AI Mechanisms and Future Developments - Meta's AI monthly active users exceeded 500 million, with significant improvements in content recommendations leading to increased user engagement on platforms like Facebook and Instagram [35][38]. - The upcoming release of a smaller LlaMA4 model is expected in early 2025, which aims to enhance the capabilities of Meta's AI offerings [36][37].