Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock soared to a record high after the company said its profits more than doubled and revenues surged 61% during the latest quarter. Facebook’s revenues crushed the consensus estimates for the ninth straight quarter. Shares of the social networking giant jumped 5.62% to $75.30 in pre-market trading Thursday. It gives the company roughly $190 billion market value, on par with International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM).
Facebook (FB) reports 151% increase in mobile advertising revenue
The social networking giant reported second-quarter revenues of $2.91 billion, up 61% from last year. Revenues exceeded the Wall Street consensus of $2.8 billion. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) said it net income during the June quarter stood at $791 million, up from $333 million last year. Excluding one-time charges, earnings came in at $0.42 per share, blowing past the consensus estimate of $0.32 a share. Operating margins increased to 48%, up from 31% last year.
Mobile advertising was the biggest growth driver during the quarter. The Menlo Park-based company generated $2.7 billion in advertising revenues. Mobile ads accounted for 62% of total advertising revenue, up from 41% in the corresponding quarter last year. Mobile ad revenues soared 151% from the last year. Though Facebook’s core revenues continue to soar rapidly, Mark Zuckerberg emphasized during the earnings call that investors shouldn’t expect heavy monetization from newer acquisitions and apps like WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger in the near-term.
Besides advertising, investors pay close attention to the company’s user growth. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) added 40 million new users during the quarter to take the total to 1.32 billion. Of them, 829 million users access the platform daily. Mobile usage also showed improvement. The company now has 1.07 billion monthly active users on mobile.
Asia and Rest of the World driving Facebook’s user growth
Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia said in a research note that almost all of Facebook’s user growth was driven by international users, especially Asia and Rest of the World. In these two regions, the number of monthly active users (MAUs) increased by 20% during the quarter. The average revenue per user rose 40% YoY to $2.24, beating Sterne Agee’s estimate of $2.11.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg said that the company continues to attract advertisers. The social networking giant now has 1.5 million advertising customers, and its ad business witnessed solid growth in all geographic regions. JMP Securities analyst Ronald Josey said Facebook stock might be expensive from a market cap perspective. But nobody on the Wall Street was expecting this level of profitability.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is projected to capture 18% of the $17.7 billion U.S. mobile advertising market in 2014, up from just 9% in 2012, according to analytics firm eMarketer.
