Facebook stock
jumped to record highs
Thursday as strong earnings
from the leading social
network sparked fresh buying.
The shares were up 5.6% at
$75.30 in late morning trade,
well above the record of $72.03
hit on March 10.
Facebook said Wednesday
profits leapt to $791m during
the three months ended June
30 in a 138 percent increase
from a year earlier.
Revenue in the quarter surged
to $2.91bn, with approximately
62% of that money coming
from ads served up on mobile
devices such as smartphones
or tablet computers.
Ad revenues overall were up
67% from a year ago to
$2.68bn.
The number of people who
visited the online social
network at least once a month
climbed to 1.32 billion in a 14%
rise from the same quarter last
year, according to Facebook.
The number of active users on
mobile devices rose to 1.07
billion.
"It was a very impressive
quarter on top of what we
believe were very high (Wall)
Street expectations," said Paul
Vogel, analyst at Barclays.
"We continue to rate Facebook
'overweight' and our top pick
as we believe there is still
plenty of room for numbers to
move higher over the next few
quarters."
The market was also
encouraged by signs that
people remain "engaged" on
Facebook, with American users
spending some 40 minutes per
day on the social network on
average.
"User growth remains robust,
while engagement continues
to increase," said RBC Capital
Markets analyst Mark Mahaney
in a note to clients.
"The most important Internet
trend by far is mobile, and
Facebook has become a mobile
company."
www.m.news24.com/nigeria/SciTech/News/Facebook-stock-hits-all-time-highs-20140725