Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) easily topped Wall Street's most optimistic estimates for both revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter, the company announced Wednesday.
The social media giant reported that it earned 79 cents U.S. per share on $5.84 billion in revenue in the quarter. Data from Thomson Reuters had the highest estimates on the Street calling for earnings of 75 cents U.S. and revenue of $5.67 billion.
On average, analysts had expected Facebook to report fourth-quarter earnings of about 68 cents U.S. a share on $5.37 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.
The company's fourth-quarter earnings per share rose 46% from 54 cents U.S. the year-ago period, and its revenue was nearly 52% higher than the $3.85 billion U.S. it recorded in Q4 2014.
In total for the full year 2015, Facebook said its revenue came in at $17.93 billion U.S. — an increase of 44% year-over-year.
Reports say Facebook also topped estimates for its users, reporting that it saw total monthly active users (MAUs) at about 1.59 billion by the end of the quarter. Wall Street was looking for the social media giant to report total MAUs of about 1.58 billion.
Facebook opened Thursday trading up $13.29, or 14.1%, from Wednesday's close, at $107.74 U.S., within a 52-week trading range of $72.00 to $110.65 U.S.
Tech Insider
