Facebook Q4 Profit Rises, Tops View; Shares Up 6%

(RTTNews) - Social networking giant Facebook Inc. (FB), Wednesday reported a surge in fourth-quarter profit, driven largely by a 44 percent jump in revenues. Both earnings and revenues trumped Wall Street estimates, sending shares up by 6 percent in the after-hours trading.

Menlo Park, California-based Facebook's fourth-quarter profit surged to $1.56 billion or $0.54 per share from $701 million or $0.25 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter rose to $2.27 billion or $0.79 per share from $1.52 billion or $0.54 per share last year. On average, 44 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.68 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Revenues for the quarter jumped 44 percent to $5.84 billion from $3.85 billion last year, as companies and other firms continue to spend heavily to advertise on the social network. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $5.37 billion for the quarter.

Daily active users rose 17 percent to 1.04 billion on average in December, while monthly active users increased 14 percent to 1.59 billion in December.

Mobile daily users gained about 25 percent to 934 million on average for December, while mobile monthly users increased 21 percent to 1.44 billion.

The rise of smartphone as been a boon for Facebook with mobile advertising revenues representing 80 percent of advertising revenue for the fourth quarter, up from 69 percent last year. Total advertising revenues surged 57 percent to $5.64 billion.

Total costs and expenses climbed 21 percent to $3.28 billion, as Facebook increased its spending on research and development as well as on marketing.

FB closed Wednesday's trading at $94.45, down $2.89 or 2.97%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, rose $5.86 or 6.20% in the after-hours trading.