Facebook Q3 Results Easily Beat Expectations

Facebook: Q3 Results Shatter Expectations

FACEBOOK's one billion-plus users fueled the company's third-quarter results, with earnings and revnue both beating analyst expectations TODAY. 

The social media giant posted adjusted earnings of $1.09 per share on revenue of $7.01 billion, up from the comparable year-ago figures of 57 cents per share, adjusted, on $4.5 billion in revenue. Analysts had expected earnings of 97 cents per share, adjusted, on $6.92 billion.

It marks the fourth straight quarter that MARK ZUCKERBERG's money machine has exceeded WALL STREET projections. 

Even with the positive news, shares of the stock wavered after hours.

"Perhaps one of the reasons the stock was down initially was people are waiting for the engagement score for the US and CANADA," JMP analyst RON JOSEY told CNBC.

Advertising revenue hit $6.82 billion, while monthly active users rose to 1.79 billion, above the more than 1.75 billion expected. For the first time, more than 1 billion users were active only on their phones every month.

Average revenue per user was $4.01 in the third quarter.

"We had another good quarter," CEO ZUCKERBERG said. "We're making progress putting video first across our apps and executing our 10-year technology roadmap."

Investors are banking on FACEBOOK to continue to grow revenue with new ad products and overseas margin expansion and to monetize OCULUS, WHATSAPP and the FACEBOOK MESSENGER platforms. 

FACEBOOK reached 1 billion monthly users on messaging apps WHATSAPP and MESSENGER, and 500 million monthly INSTAGRAM users. Shares of FACEBOOK stock hit an all-time high last week. 

Two-thirds of FACEBOOK users get news on the site, according to the PEW RESEARCH CENTER up from 47% in 2013. 

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