Meta (META) Earnings Per Share History: Quarterly Data (2020–2025)

Meta EPS: 2020–2025

Meta Platforms (META) reported diluted EPS of $8.87 in Q4 2025 (October–December 2025). Full-year 2025 diluted EPS was approximately $23.49 — though this is suppressed by the anomalous Q3 2025 EPS of $1.05 from a one-time charge. The underlying Q4 2025 run-rate EPS of $8.87 per quarter implies a normalized annual EPS in excess of $30, reflecting the business’s trajectory entering 2026.

Meta’s EPS chart from 2020 to 2025 shows a business that grew per-share earnings from $2.71/quarter to $8.87/quarter — a 227% increase — despite absorbing the 2022 compression and funding massive AI infrastructure capex. The EPS growth is amplified by Meta’s aggressive share buyback program, which has reduced the diluted share count over time and therefore increased EPS growth relative to net income growth.

Meta Annual Diluted EPS by Year

2025 annual EPS suppressed by one-time Q3 2025 item ($1.05 EPS). Underlying run-rate EPS materially higher. Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL.

2022: EPS Fell 40% in a Single Year

Meta’s 2022 diluted EPS of $8.59 represented a 40% decline from the $13.77 reported in 2021. This per-share decline was slightly smaller than the 41% net income decline because Meta’s buyback program modestly reduced the diluted share count during the year, partially offsetting the net income compression. The 2022 EPS trough — with Q3 2022 at $1.64 per share — was the lowest quarterly EPS in Meta’s post-2016 history.

For investors who held through the 2022 compression, the recovery was extraordinary. By Q4 2024, EPS had reached $7.96/quarter — 4.9× the Q3 2022 trough of $1.64. The full-year 2024 EPS of $23.86 represented a 177% recovery from the $8.59 reported in 2022.

EPS vs. Net Income: The Buyback Effect

Meta’s EPS growth has consistently outpaced net income growth due to share count reduction via buybacks. The company has spent tens of billions of dollars annually repurchasing shares, reducing the diluted share count from approximately 2.71 billion shares in Q3 2020 to approximately 2.57 billion by Q4 2025 (a reduction of roughly 5%). This may seem modest, but on a $60+ billion annual net income base, a 5% reduction in share count translates to a meaningful per-share earnings boost.

The buyback math is most impactful when the share price is low. Meta’s most aggressive buybacks in 2022–2023 — executed when the stock was at $90–$300 per share — have proven highly accretive in retrospect. Each share purchased at $150 in late 2022 now represents $8.87/quarter in earnings (annualized ~$35.50) on an asset that cost $150 — an implied earnings yield of 23.7% on the repurchase price.

EPS and the AI Capex Trade-Off

Meta’s 2025 EPS (~$23.49 annual) is lower than it would be without the $70+ billion in annual capex, because capex generates depreciation expense that reduces operating income and therefore net income and EPS. However, the capex is creating infrastructure that will generate revenue for 10–15 years at low marginal cost once built. The EPS trajectory in 2026–2030 will partly reflect whether the AI infrastructure investments generate commensurate advertising revenue growth and potential new AI revenue streams.

For comparison with other high-earnings-per-share companies in technology, see Meta Operating Income History and Meta Net Income History. For context on Meta’s earnings quality relative to peers in the social media sector, note that no other social media company approaches Meta’s EPS levels: Snap remains unprofitable, Pinterest has only recently achieved modest profitability, and Reddit is in its early post-IPO profit generation phase.