The stock value of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) rose to a record high over the past 52-week range after reporting outstanding financial results for the second quarter, beating the consensus estimates of Wall Street analysts.
After trading hours on Thursday, the stock of the social network giant closed at $34.36 per share, up by nearly 30%. Facebook stock price is almost close to reaching its $38 IPO price in May 2012.
Facebook earnings beat expectations
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) revenue increased by 53% to $1.81 billion from $1.18 billion in the same quarter last year. The social network giant reported earnings of $0.19 per share excluding items, higher than its $0.12 earnings per share a year ago.
Based on data compiled by Thomson Reuters, the consensus estimate of analysts for the social network giant was to post earnings of $0.14 a share on $1.62 billion revenue.
During the quarter, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) mobile advertising increased from 30% to 41%. The social network giant posted $1.60 billion in total advertising revenue. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney noted that the company managed to resolve its mobile issues based on its advertising performance.
Mahaney said, “They’ve taken three or four quarters to try to fix the mobile issue. They’ve gone from zero of their revenue being mobile to almost 50 percent now. That’s pretty good evidence that they’ve fixed the mobile issue.”
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) had 819 million active mobile users by the end of the quarter, an increase of 51% from the same period a year ago. Last month, its average active mobile users per day were 469 million. Over all, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s monthly active users were 1.15 billion by the end of the quarter and its average daily active users were 699 million in June.
Dan Miles of Alpha Capital Partners commented that the current financial results from Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) are the “best quarter by far” since its initial public offering (IPO). “The big thing that stands out among all the metrics is their profitability,” said Miles.
Bears impressed
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s stronger-than-expected earnings prompted Wall Street analysts to increase their EPS and revenue estimates for the company. Richard Greenfield, analyst at BTIG Research, one of several analysts with bearish convictions about the future prospects of the social network giant, was impressed. In a note to investors, he said, “We were wrong.” He had been recommending a Sell rating for shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).
The New York Times quoted Greenfield’s statement in an interview which reads, “The reality was that I don’t think I’ve ever raised my estimates on a company of this size by that much. They literally crushed my expectations.”
Greenfield raised his revenue estimate for Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) for fiscal 2014 from $7.4 billion to $9.3 billion.
Zynga beats estimates, but stock plummets
On the other hand, the stock price of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) plummeted by more than 14% to $2.99 per share on Thursday despite the fact that its earnings for the second quarter are better than the consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts.
The online social gaming company reported $230.7 million higher than the $219 million revenue consensus estimate. Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) posted a $0.01 loss per share, better than the $0.04 losses per share expected by analysts.
New strategy has Zynga investors worried
Some analysts and observers in the industry believe that Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) investors are worried about management’s plan to abandon its license application for its real money gaming in the United States while it continues to evaluate its real money gaming in the United Kingdom.
David Ko, COO of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), explained that the company is in a transition and it made a focused choice not to pursue real money gaming in the U.S. He said, “The decision we made centered around focus. As we looked at social free to play gaming opportunity, we’re not executing against that.”
Zynga’s new CEO Don Mattrick believed that the company has the ability to turn around, although it needs a lot of work. He said the process of getting the business back on track will not be easy and quick, but he said, “Zynga can do this.”
“We’ve not met investors or our own expectations. We haven’t met our players’ expectations. We have what it takes to get back to winning. We need to get back to basics. Longer term view on our products, tightening up execution. As we reset, we expect to see more volatility,” added Mattrick.
