Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is due to release its earnings numbers after the market closes on Wednesday July 23. The social networking company is set to show off a healthy quarter, according to a number of analysts studying it, with mobile growth leading the way. The firm’s shares have performed exceptionally well in recent weeks as expectations concerning the company’s earnings numbers have been revised upward.
Consensus revenue expectations, taken from a Businessweek survey of 40 analysts following Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stand at $2.8 billion, while the same group of analysts are looking for the company to reveal earnings per share of 32 cents for the three month period. In the same three months of last year. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) earned 19 cents per share on revenue totaling $1.8 billion. A Cantor Fitzgerald report on the coming earnings numbers was even more positive on the future of Facebook.
Facebook becomes the internet’s best advertising platform
According to that report, which was authored by analysts Youssef Squali, Naved Khan and Kip Paulson, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is the “largest/most engaged mass-reach Internet platform for advertisers, with unmatched targeting potential and very potent monetization formats.” That’s an interesting assertion, given the preponderance of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) over the entire digital advertising market.
The claim is never quite explained by the analysts, and the qualifiers must, in some way, exclude Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) properties from consideration. Despite that over-reach, the core point of the Cantor Fitzgerald report stands. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is one of the leading contenders in the digital advertising world, and its ad products are driving sales.
Mobile advertising is particularly lucrative for the company. The Cantor Fitzgerald analysts are looking for the company’s mobile revenue to hit close to $1.7 billion in the three month period. That number reflects 62% of the company’s total ad revenue in the period. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) reliance on mobile revenue has not made it more successful in the business than Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), but it has led to its development of a range of technologies that could cause that to happen in the medium term.
Facebook leaves services behind
There was a time when it appeared as if Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) wouldn’t have to compete directly with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). Just a few years ago a huge proportion of the company’s revenue was coming from Payments & Other Fees. The Cantor Fitzgerald analysts expect this segment to grow just 11.1% year on year in the coming earnings report, as management focuses on expanding the company’s advertising business.
In the same period ad revenue is expected to grow by more than 70%. With user numbers still increasing, the Cantor Fitzgerald analysts are looking for a jump of 14.3% in MAUs in this earnings report, gaming and other places where Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) used to reap fees are failing to keep up.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is, despite the fall-off in that segment, still performing incredibly well. The company’s future is looking bright according to this report, and the analysts put a price target of $80 on the company’s shares heading into earnings.
