- Shares of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) were trading up over 12% after dominating Q4 earnings
- Profit jumps 61% to $6.88 billion
- Revenues up 30% to 16.9 billion
“Our community and business continue to grow,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. “We’ve fundamentally changed how we run our company to focus on the biggest social issues, and we’re investing more to build new and inspiring ways for people to connect.”
Facebook reported strong fiscal fourth-quarter financial results after markets closed on Wednesday. The social media giant beat Wall Street estimates on both top and bottom lines, amid mounting public anger over how the company handles user data.
Jim Cridlin, head of innovation at WPP’s Mindshare said, “Last year was grueling for Facebook, but advertisers are still flocking to the platform.”
Shares of the Facebook shot up more than 8% in after-hours trading to about $162.60. The stock has declined nearly 34% since the company warned of rising expenses and slumping revenue growth in 2018.
Facebook earnings report came a few hours after Apple barred the social network from using its internal apps by revoking its enterprise developer certificates. The ban was in response to reports that Facebook went against user privacy guidelines by distributing apps outside Apple’s app store, and paid users $20 to install the spyware.
FB Earnings & Outlook
Facebook revealed net income of $6.88 billion for the three months ended December 31, 2018 compared with the same period last year when the company reported net income of $4.27 billion. The tech giant posted earnings of $2.38 per share for the quarter, compared with $1.44 per year in the fourth-quarter of last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had called for adjusted earnings of $2.18 per share.
Revenue rose from $12.97 billion a year-ago to $16.64 billion in the latest quarter. Analysts were expecting revenue of $16.39 billion based on figures compiled by FactSet. Daily active users (DAUs) were 1.52 billion on average for the quarter, a rise of 9% year-over-year, while monthly active user (MAUs) were 2.32 billion, an increase of 9% from last year.
Revenue from mobile advertising represented about 93% of advertising revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018. That’s an increase of nearly 89% of advertising revenue in the same period of 2017. Analysts expect the company to post earnings of $1.57 per share on revenue of $14.8 billion for the current quarter.