Meta Platforms  (META) – Get Free Report, the social media giant behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, posted strong third-quarter results after the bell Wednesday. Group revenues surged more than 23% to $34.15 billion while monthly active users across its “family of apps” jumped close to four billion.

Meta additionally reported earnings of $4.39 per share, coming well above Street expectations of $3.70. Despite this, the stock tumbled in after-hours trading on notes of caution sounded by Susan Li, Meta’s CFO.

Li said that Meta is “seeing more volatility at the start of the quarter” due to the conflict in the Middle East. This softening in ad spend caused the company to broaden its guidance range to $36.5 billion to $40 billion, “to capture that uncertainty.”

“Historically, we have seen broader demand softness follow other regional conflicts in the past,” Li said. “We’ve reflected the latest trends and advertiser reaction that we’ve seen into our Q4 outlook, which again, we think, reflects the greater uncertainty and volatility in the landscape ahead.”

Meta shares, closing the day down around 4%, fell another 2.5% in pre-market trading Thursday and look set to open at around $292 each.

The Tesla connection

Tesla  (TSLA) – Get Free Report shares have also been falling since the company reported earnings last week, a movement largely attributed to the company’s falling gross margins and likely interest in more price cuts.

But CEO Elon Musk blamed the company’s struggles on macroeconomic factors — namely, high interest rates — that are outside of Tesla’s control.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, said in the company’s earnings call Wednesday that Threads, its Twitter challenger, is “just under 100 million” monthly active users.

Bloomberg/Getty Images

Li’s somewhat similar warning that fourth-quarter revenue would be dependent on macroeconomic factors, according to Gary Black, managing partner of The Future Fund, seemed to infect Tesla’s stock as well.

Tesla shares, closing the day down nearly 2%, were marked 0.9% lower in pre-market trading.

“Big (difference) between Tesla and Meta: Tesla missed on 3Q gross margins and earnings and the CEO signaled more price cuts for 4Q,” Black wrote. “Meta beat for 3Q and guided in line for 4Q. Numbers matter.”

Source: thestreet.com