You gotta give credit where it's due, and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) deserves some for its third-quarter earnings report. The social media giant delivered a remarkable turnaround from a year ago when the stock plunged over concerns about flatlining growth and widening losses from its Reality Labs division. Since 2022's Q3 report, the stock has tripled in value as the business rapidly recovered. The growth and margins it's posting resemble the pre-pandemic Facebook.

Revenue in the quarter jumped 23% year over year to $34.1 billion, ahead of the consensus at $33.5 billion, while its operating margin doubled from the quarter a year ago, going from 20% to 40%, and earnings per share surged from $1.64 to $4.39, well ahead of the consensus at $3.70.

After several quarters of weak results, Meta's advertising business sprung back to life with 31% year-over-year growth in ad impressions even as the price per ad fell 6% year over year due to a shift to lower-monetizing geographies and formats. 

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Source Fool.com