Meta’s Q3 2026 results show revenue growth outpacing expectations while reported profitability fell, and the $135 billion to $145 billion 2026 capex outlook signals a major, sustained AI infrastructure buildout. Whether that investment will produce earnings growth remains uncertain.

Meta’s Q3 2026 results show revenue growth outpacing expectations while reported profitability fell, and the $135 billion to $145 billion 2026 capex outlook signals a major, sustained AI infrastructure buildout. Whether that investment will produce earnings growth remains uncertain.

Revenue was $64.601 billion, up 26% year over year, versus $63.4 billion expected. EPS was $3.83 versus $6.80 expected. Meta’s release reported operating income down 37% to $12.988 billion and operating margin at 20%, compared with 40% a year earlier (Meta’s Q3 results).

The supplied posts attribute the EPS miss to a $9.89 billion legal settlement charge. One report says EPS would have been $7.40 excluding that charge, suggesting the headline miss was substantially affected by a one-time item; the operating income and margin declines still show costs rose much faster than revenue (MelvinInvests, 2logics).

The reported outlook is $135 billion to $145 billion in 2026 capex and $73 billion to $76 billion in Q4 revenue. That points to Meta committing heavily to capacity such as GPUs, data centers, networking and power while forecasting further revenue growth. It supports demand for AI infrastructure, but does not establish that the spending will generate returns sufficient to offset rising infrastructure and depreciation costs (MelvinInvests).

The sources do not establish whether the planned spending will translate into sustained earnings growth.