Facebook shares pop 9% in after-hours, on solid Q3

Social network posts 12 cents a share on revenue of $1.262 billion

Shares of Facebook popped 9% in after-hours trading, after the social network delivered third-quarter earnings and revenue that came in above Wall Street estimates.

Facebook posted revenue of $1.262 billion for the quarter, higher than Wall Street's estimates of $1.23 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 12 cents in the third quarter, compared with the 11 cents a share that analysts were expecting.

Facebook stock closed regular trading up .87% to $19.49 a share. It is up nearly 9% in after hours trading, to $21.20 a share.

The social network saw its monthly active users increase by 26% year to year to 1.01 billion, and saw its daily active users increase 28% from the previous year to 584 million.

Mobile MAUs were 604 million as of the end, an increase of 61% year-to-year.

"As proud as I am that a billion people use Facebook each month, I'm also really happy that over 600 million people now share and connect on Facebook every month using mobile devices,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO said in a statement. "People who use our mobile products are more engaged, and we believe we can increase engagement even further as we continue to introduce new products and improve our platform. At the same time, we are deeply integrating monetization into our product teams in order to build a stronger, more valuable company."

Revenue

Facebook’s revenue was up 32% year to year, from $954 million to $1.26 billion. If not for foreign exchange rates, Facebook notes, the increase would have been 38%.

Advertising revenue was $1.09 billion, or 86% of total revenue. It increased 36% from the same quarter in 2011. Once again, if not for foreign exchange rates, it would have been an increase of 43%.

Revenue from payments and fees took in $176 million. While this represents a 13% increase year-to-year, it also was a 9% decrease quarter to quarter.

Net income

GAAP income before provision for income taxes was $372 million, but after the provision, Facebook saw a net loss of $59 million, compared to net income of $227 million for the third quarter of 2011. 

Non-GAAP net income was $311 million or $0.12 per share, compared to $273 million and $0.12 per share for the same quarter in the prior year.

Facebook will be holding a conference call at 2 PM. 

We will update with more information after the call ends.

(Image source: https://kreatifman.blogspot.com)