Facebook stock rose 20 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday after the social network released second quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street forecast on both revenue and earnings per share, lead by big gains in mobile advertising revenue.
Mobile advertising accounted for 41 percent of Facebook's $1.6 billion ad revenue. Last quarter, mobile revenue was about 30 percent, so that is a big jump. "I am very pleased with the results," said CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the earnings call.
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Earnings per share rose $ 0.19, while revenue jumped 53 percent from the same period a year ago to $1.81 billion. Analysts predicted $0.14 and $1.62 billion, respectively. In second quarter of 2012, Facebook's earnings per share was $0.12 and revenue was $1.18 billion. Facebook's net income was $333 million; up from $219 million last quarter and the $157 million loss this time in 2012.
Facebook also built on its Monthly Active Users and Mobile Monthly Active Users, reporting 1.15 billion and 819 million, respectively. Last quarter, that number was 1.11 billion and 751 million. Zuckerberg said this showed that some recent reports that younger users were abandoning the service "just [aren't] true."
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Many were anticipating news on Facebook's video ad platform, but that was not to be. COO Sheryl Sandberg told investors the company was "exploring how to expand [its video ad platform] but we don't have anything new to announce today."
There was little to report on some of Facebook's recent innovations and acquisitions. Home and Graph Search, Zuckerberg said, were long-term investments that he anticipated would pay off down the line. Instagram, which Facebook bought for $1 billion in April 2012, was continuing to grow its user base and money-making potential.