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Meta Platforms META

Meta Platforms scores excellent on business quality (8.8 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.

Last price$718.67Oct 9, 2026
Business qualityExcellent
Next earningsOct 28, 2026, after the close
Insiders, 90 daysSelling

Why it matters

  1. What Meta Platforms does

    Meta Platforms makes money by selling targeted digital advertising across its family of apps, primarily Facebook and Instagram, paid for by businesses seeking consumer attention. The company is leaning heavily into generative AI initiatives like Muse to reshape e-commerce integration across its platforms.

  2. What it does best

    Meta dominates ad targeting through unmatched network scale and proprietary AI matching, driving a gross margin of 81.8% that easily outpaces Pinterest's 79.5%. This advertiser lock-in creates a massive moat built on billions of daily active users.

  3. The main risk

    Aggressive AI capital expenditures threaten free cash flow, with massive infrastructure spending risking margin dilution if ad monetization fails to keep pace.

Quality, check by check

Scored against its own industry, from company filings.

ProfitabilityStrong

Operating margin hits 39.1%, landing in the top decile at the 99th sector percentile. Scale continuously expands profitability as user engagement deepens.

MoatStrong

Network effects lock in billions of global consumers and advertisers, placing gross margins in the top decile of its sector at the 94th percentile.

GrowthFast

Revenue grew 22.2% to $228.2B, accelerating from prior years as core digital ad demand surges and new AI tools expand advertiser adoption.

Financial healthStrong

Debt-to-equity sits at 0.3 with interest coverage at 44x, meaning debt costs are a non-issue. Free cash flow reached $41.0B, keeping the balance sheet firmly fortified.

Insiders

Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.

2 sold $1.7M outside pre-planned sales.

Our sealed record on META

Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.

The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.

Questions

Is META a good business?

Meta Platforms scores excellent on the Cluenex quality check (8.8 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is strong, moat strong, growth fast and financial health strong.

Are insiders buying META?

In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 2 sold $1.7M outside pre-planned sales.

When does META report earnings?

Oct 28, 2026, after the close.

For members

See META today

  • Today's verdict on META, and why
  • Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
  • The exact price that would change the verdict
  • Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
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Cite this page: Cluenex, “Meta Platforms (META)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/meta/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.