Meta's fourth-quarter results jumped past Wall Street's expectations thanks to solid advertising revenue, sending shares higher in after-hours trading Wednesday.

The company earned $22.77 billion, or $8.88 per share, in the October-December quarter. That's up 9% from $20.84 billion, or $8.02 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue grew 24% to $59.89 billion from $48.39 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $8.21 per share on revenue of $58.5 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

Meta's expenses, which the company already warned will be significantly higher this year, grew 40% to $35.15 billion.

For the current quarter, Meta is forecasting revenue in the range of $53.5 billion to $56.5 billion. That's above analysts' forecast of $51.4 billion. For 2026, Meta is forecasting expenses in the range of $162 billion to $169 billion, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation.

Meta had 78,865 employees at the end of the year, an increase of 6% from a year earlier.

Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based company rose $27.28, or 4.1%, to $696.01 in after-hours trading.