Meta’s revenue grew 26%. Its Q3 spending rose 80% from a year earlier.
The business is growing fast, but its spending is growing faster. The question is how much profit that investment will produce. At the same time, higher oil prices are already showing up in airline costs.
Meta’s Growth Comes With a Bigger Bill
Meta reported $64.6 billion in Q3 revenue. Ad impressions rose 10%, and the average price per ad rose 14%. For Q4, Meta guided to $73 billion to $76 billion in revenue.
Spending is rising much faster. Q3 spending reached $34.9 billion, up 80% from a year earlier. Meta had spent $85.8 billion through September and raised the low end of its 2026 capital spending range to $135 billion to $145 billion.
Reported earnings need the settlement charge for context. Meta’s earnings per share were $3.83, against $6.80 expected. One brief said the figure would have been $7.40 without a $9.89 billion settlement charge.
Cash shows how large the investment has become. Q3 free cash flow was negative $2.1 billion. Meta made no buybacks in the first nine months, compared with $26.3 billion a year earlier. Its long-term debt rose from $58.7 billion to $80.9 billion since December.
Meta is building capacity for its own products and has signed capacity agreements with Nebius and CoreWeave. Zuckerberg said Muse has more than 10 million users and is costly to run. Meta is targeting more than 10 times better cost efficiency for Muse next year.
The revenue growth is clear. So is the spending. How much profit that spending produces is still an open question.
The Wider AI Bet and Tesla’s Paid Service
One commentator says SpaceX’s Super Intelligence segment generated $7.6 billion of its $14.6 billion in Q3 2026 revenue. They put the segment at $800 million of $5.6 billion in Q3 2025 and describe it as including computing capacity, cloud services, and AI products.
Bloomberg reports that an imminent Anthropic listing could bring multibillion-dollar gains to early backers. Two commentators also argue that fears of excessive AI spending are overdone. One estimates possible spending of $30 trillion over 25 years, comparing it with mobile network and roadway builds of about $25 trillion each.
Those comparisons make a case for the scale of spending. They do not answer what Meta’s own investment will earn.
Tesla offers another view of paid technology services. It reported $28.05 billion in Q3 revenue and $1.53 billion in free cash flow. Active Full Self-Driving subscriptions reached 1.74 million, up 67% from a year earlier. Tesla said its Full Self-Driving attach rate exceeded 75% in North America.
One commentator says self-driving subscriptions have crossed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue. They argue that cars already sold can bring in new subscription revenue. The subscription count shows a growing paid service, while Tesla’s earnings discussion left questions about spending on Optimus, Cybercab, and other expansion plans.
Bloomberg also reports backing for a possible SpaceX and Tesla combination. It describes that possibility as the biggest corporate transaction ever attempted.
Oil Costs Are Rising, but Inflation Signals Differ
Reuters reports that oil climbed after attacks in Saudi Arabia and no diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East or Ukraine. Another brief put Brent at $111.64 and WTI at $99.39. The Financial Times reports that surging oil prices sparked a global stock sell-off on Thursday.
For US airlines, the pressure is already visible. Reuters says resilient passenger traffic and sharply higher fares have not fully offset soaring fuel costs.
President Trump accused Iran of creating threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to push oil prices higher. Separately, one commentator is watching oil, Treasury yields, and the dollar. In their view, higher oil could add inflation pressure. Falling yields alongside higher oil could instead signal greater concern about growth. These are scenarios, not settled outcomes.
Foreign holdings of US Treasuries rose $83 billion in August to $9.33 trillion. Japan and China reduced their holdings, while Canada, Belgium, and the UK increased theirs.
A separate commentator argues that US government finances make inflation a lasting risk. They cite $5.4 trillion in fiscal 2026 tax collections, $7.4 trillion in spending, a deficit of about $2 trillion, and $1.05 trillion in interest payments. They estimate interest payments of around $1.2 trillion in fiscal 2027 as debt is refinanced. Their belief that the government will respond by printing money and inflating is a forecast.
Other Results and Market Claims
Lam Research reported fiscal first-quarter earnings per share of $2.20, a penny above estimates, and $8.22 billion in revenue, above the $8.13 billion estimate. Its shares fell during the discussion, though a speaker could not identify a cause in the headline numbers. IBM reported $17.1 billion in revenue, up almost 5%. Texas Instruments reported $6.06 billion in revenue, up 28%, and $2.96 billion in free cash flow.
American Express and Airbnb announced a partnership that will put more than 1 million Airbnb listings in Amex’s travel portal. Cardholders can earn rewards on bookings there but cannot currently redeem points for Airbnb stays. Amid a tariff dispute with Canada, Trump demanded that Bombardier build in America to sell in the US. Bombardier pointed to workers in more than 20 states, sites in 10 states, and American-made aircraft components.
Fidelity reported that the average 401(k) balance rose 10.5% from March through June. Participants in their 30s averaged $75,200; those in their 40s averaged $156,800.
Market outlooks remain claims, not results. One strategist expects choppy trading until the midterms and says it is too early to conclude that bond yields and crude oil have peaked. Another commentator expects an unusually strong 18 to 24 month period and a broad rally after the midterms.
Speakers in an investing discussion said returns after S&P 500 all-time highs had been higher over the following one, three, and five years than in other periods. They also cited a 30-year study that favored investing immediately over waiting for each year’s low. The author of a 540-page value investing handbook argues for attention to a business’s earnings, its price, and the risk of long flat markets.