Facebook posts strong growth, but not enough
NEW YORK - Facebook's (FB) second-quarter revenue barely squeaked past Wall Street's outsized expectations, sending its high-flying stock down around 2 percent in after-hours trading. It had closed in regular Wednesday trading up $1.70, or 1.8 percent, at $96.99.
The social media company reported second-quarter net income of $715 million, a profit of 25 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and amortization costs, came to 50 cents per share.
The average estimate of 18 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 47 cents per share. Facebook posted revenue of $4.04 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Fourteen analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.99 billion.
While the results surpassed forecasts on all fronts, some investors may have been looking for a bigger beat, or simply cashing in on some profits as Facebook's shares have been trading near record highs. The world's largest online social network continued to expand its massive user base, reaching 1.49 billion monthly users as of June 30, up 13 percent from a year earlier.
Facebook said mobile advertising represented more than three-quarters of ad revenue during the April-June period, proof that the company continues to attract advertisers to where its users are -- on smartphones and other hand-held gadgets.
Menlo Park, California-based Facebook said Wednesday that it had 1.31 billion monthly mobile users as of the end of the quarter, up 23 percent from a year earlier. In addition, there were 968 million daily active users overall and 844 million on mobile devices.
"Once again Facebook has proven its ability to attract and retain users. It's particularly impressive that users are more engaged than ever before -- that the percentage of monthly users who visit every day continues to grow," said Forrester Research analyst Nate Elliott.