Meta Platforms reported a strong third quarter in 2026, delivering revenue of $64.6 billion, representing 26% year-over-year growth and exceeding analyst consensus estimates of $63.37 billion by more than $1 billion [1]. The company reported diluted EPS of $3.83, though this was impacted by a $9.89 billion legal settlement charge related to teen addiction litigation; excluding this charge, diluted EPS would have been $7.40 [1]. The positive results drove Meta shares to a 52-week high of nearly $780 on September 24 before settling just under $750, with stock rising 2% in after-hours trading [1].
The strong quarter was bolstered by exceptional early adoption of Meta's Muse AI agent, which launched just over a month and a half prior to the earnings report. CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted that more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada have set up Muse personal agents, with approximately 25% of users engaging with Muse on any given day [1]. Notably, retention rates are solid and improving with longer-term usage, exceeding twice the level that Threads started at or where other AI apps started [1]. The primary use case is shopping, with over 25% of Muse users engaging in agent-led shopping, and payment volume has been exceptionally strong—Plaid reported unprecedented activity levels, and Stripe had to raise credit limits in the first week due to volumes exceeding expectations [1].
Meta has outlined an ambitious multi-pronged monetization strategy for Muse, including a free tier offering e-commerce tools to capture transaction fees, paid tiers for power users requiring latest models and higher token budgets, and business solutions for employee productivity [1]. While Muse is currently very compute-intensive, Zuckerberg expects greater than 10-fold improvement in cost-efficiency over the next year [1]. The company plans to scale the Muse network before profitability is realized, leveraging its profitable core advertising business, with Zuckerberg stating: "If compute efficiency continues improving quickly for another few years, which we think is highly likely, then Muse will be highly profitable over multiple years" [1]. Additionally, Meta is building the Meta Enterprise Platform, led by CJ Desai (formerly CEO of MongoDB), to serve high-margin inference demand through services including API, Muse Code, and other enterprise offerings [1]. Facebook and Instagram achieved record engagement in the quarter due to increased video content consumption [1].
CONCLUSION
Meta's strong Q3 2026 results, combined with exceptional early adoption metrics for its Muse AI agent and an ambitious monetization roadmap, signal significant growth potential in AI-driven services. The company's expectation of 10-fold compute efficiency improvements and multi-tier monetization strategy position Muse as a major revenue driver, though profitability remains dependent on achieving projected cost reductions. Investors responded positively to the earnings and forward guidance, reflecting confidence in Meta's AI strategy and ability to leverage its core advertising business to fund Muse's scaling.