Strong Growth at Facebook Faces Valuation and Performance

By Chris Lange Published Jul 29, 4:27PM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) reported its second-quarter financial results Wednesday after the markets closed. The social media giant had $0.50 in operating earnings per share (EPS) on $4.04 billion in revenue. This compares to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates that call for $0.47 in EPS on $3.99 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $0.42 in EPS on $2.91 billion in revenue.

Despite strong top- and bottom-line numbers the initial reaction from investors has been negative in the after-hours trading session. Perhaps investors did not see enough growth in terms of users or this could be lots of profit taking after the shares have outperformed the market handily.

We did not see formal guidance, so that may be in the conference call. The Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for the second quarter and the fiscal year are as follows:

Third quarter 2015: $0.50 EPS and $4.35 billion in revenue.
Full year 2015: $2.01 EPS and $17.12 billion in revenue.

The company gave some operational and financial highlights for the second quarter (compared to the same period in the previous year):

Daily active users (DAUs) were 968 million on average for June 2015, an increase of 17%.
Mobile DAUs were 844 million on average for June 2015, an increase of 29%.
Monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.49 billion as of June 30, 2015, an increase of 13%.
Mobile MAUs were 1.31 billion as of June 30, 2015, an increase of 23%.

Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 76% of advertising revenue for the second quarter of 2015, up from roughly 62% of advertising revenue from last year. Capital expenditures were $549 million.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, briefly commented on earnings:

This was another strong quarter for our community. Engagement across our family of apps keeps growing, and we remain focused on improving the quality of our services.

Facebook ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $14.13 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2015. Free cash flow was $1.33 billion at the same time.

ALSO READ: Can Referrals & Used Cars Make More For Tesla?

Shares of Facebook closed Wednesday up 1.8% at $96.99 on a 52-week trading range of $70.32 to $99.24. Following the release of the earnings report, shares were initially down 3% at $94.09 in the after-hours trading session. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $100.65.

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.