Facebook beats expectations, shares surge 16%

Company posts revenue of $2.02 billion, and EPS of 25 cents a share

Shares of Facebook are up over 16% in after-hours trading, after the company came way ahead of expectations in its third-quarter earnings report.

Facebook shares had dipped a slighlt 0.81%, or 40 cents, to $48.99 a share, in regular trading on Wednesday.

In the earnings report, Facebook posted revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, easily beating Wall Street's estimates of $1.91 billion. Revenue rose 60% from $1.26 billion in the third quarter of 2012. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 25 cents in the quarter, higher than the 19 cents a share that analysts had been expecting.

"For nearly 10 years, Facebook has been on a mission to connect the world," Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, said in a statement. "The strong results we achieved this quarter show that we're prepared for the next phase of our company, as we work to bring the next five billion people online and into the knowledge economy." 

Advertising revenue was $1.80 billion. It increased 66% from the same quarter last year. Mobile accounted for 49% of that revenue.

Revenue from payments and other fees was $218 million for the third quarter of 2013.

GAAP net income was $425 million, compared to a net loss of $59 million for the third quarter of 2012, while non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $621 million, up 100% compared to $311 million for the third quarter of 2012.

Monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.19 billion as of the end of September,  an increase of 18% year-over-year, while mobile MAUs were 874 million, an increase of 45% year-over-year.

Daily active users (DAUs) were 728 million, an increase of 25% year-over-year, while mobile DAUs were 507 million on average.

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