Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) will release its third-quarter earnings on October 21, with the report due after the US market closes. The results place the company's stock under renewed scrutiny after President Donald Trump disclosed a large August purchase of Meta shares. Investors will be watching how the strength of Meta's core advertising business holds up against the rising cost of its artificial intelligence buildout, and the report arrives after a selloff in technology shares linked in part to concerns over AI spending. Framed against that backdrop, the report doubles as a progress check on how far Meta's AI spending is being matched by results in its core business.

Trump's Filing Lists Millions in Meta Shares

An October 8 financial disclosure showed that Trump purchased Meta shares on August 21 in a transaction valued between $5 million and $25 million. The trade was the largest individual transaction listed in the filing, although the disclosed range does not reveal the exact amount paid. The same filing detailed transactions involving other technology companies, including Nvidia. White House officials said independent financial managers oversee Trump's investments. Nvidia, for its part, expanded its Nemotron AI models last week. The disclosure became public less than two weeks before the earnings report, keeping the purchase in the same news cycle as Meta's results.

Advertising Remains Meta's Main Growth Engine

Advertising continues to drive Meta's results. In the second quarter, revenue rose 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, supported by a 14% increase in advertising impressions and a 12% rise in the average price per advertisement. Together, the two measures underpinned the higher advertising revenue. The company applies AI to recommend content and improve advertising performance across Facebook and Instagram. Meta's family of apps counted 3.6 billion daily users in June, a 3% annual increase, with the figure spanning several of its services. Advertising is also where Meta's AI spending connects most directly to revenue, since the same tools behind the buildout power the recommendations and ad performance that underpin the growth figures.

Heavy Spending Keeps Cash Flow in Focus

Meta's spending plans will be another focal point of the report. On October 15, the company released Muse Spark Open, extending its AI tools for developers working on software tasks. Meta has not yet established how much revenue its newer AI products will produce, and investors are awaiting updates on business-focused AI services. The company expects capital spending of $130 billion to $145 billion in 2026, a range that includes finance lease payments. In the second quarter, spending reached $31.08 billion, while free cash flow fell to $784 million. Legal charges and severance payments added to quarterly expenses. With the 2026 range already set at that scale, any revision to the guidance and any sign of whether free cash flow recovers from its second-quarter level will rank among the figures investors watch most closely.

Forecasts Shift Attention to Costs and Cash Flow

Analysts expect third-quarter revenue of roughly $63.34 billion, representing growth near 24%, and earnings of about $6.60 per share, with cost trends and cash flow high on the list of investor questions. That compares with adjusted earnings of $7.25 a year earlier; last year's reported figure included a tax charge.

Questions about returns on AI investment extend across the technology sector. Morgan Stanley recently raised its Amazon price target, pointing to cloud demand and automated services as growth drivers, and Amazon plans further spending on computing capacity. Meta's figures on advertising growth, spending, and cash generation will add to the industry's body of evidence on whether large AI budgets are being matched by operating results. META stock approaches the earnings report after a period of weakness across technology shares.