Facebook crushes estimates for Q1 earnings with $5.4B in revenue as shares rise 6%
Shares of Facebook surged more than 6 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the social media behemoth crushed expectations for itsquarterly earnings.
Facebook posted $5.38 billion in revenue for Q1 2016, up from $3.5 billion just a year ago, beating expectations of $5.25 billion. The company also posted earnings per share of $0.77, up from $0.42 a year ago, beating expectations of $0.62.
“We had a great start to the year,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “We’re focused on our 10 year roadmap to give everyone in the world the power to share anything they want with anyone.”
Facebook now has 1.65 billion monthly active users, up 15 percent from last year and beating analyst expectations of 1.62 billion. Its daily active user count is also up, now at 1.09 billion on average, up 16 percent year-over-year.
The company has 1.51 billion mobile monthly active users, up 21 percent from last year. Mobile advertising also represented 82 percent of the company’s total ad revenue last quarter, up from 73 percent a year ago.
Facebook also announced a proposal for a new class of non-voting capital stock.
Facebook’s huge beat today is even more impressive considering the struggles of social media rival Twitter, and recent disappointing earnings results from other tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Apple.
Earlier this month at the company’s F8 conference, Zuckerberg outlined Facebook’s 10-year vision, which is all about connecting every person across the world. More than two-thirds of the company’s monthly active users hail from outside the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
