Facebook crushes expectations thanks to booming mobile ad sales

Facebook’s stock was trading higher after the world’s biggest social media company handily surpassed Wall Street’s expectations for the second quarter, barreling ahead on mobile advertisements, user growth and the next frontier — video.

Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in an interview that people are spending more time each day on Facebook on average. The company’s focus on video is attracting more attention from users, she said. Facebook has been working to get users to create and watch more videos from each other, from businesses and from celebrities.

Facebook had 1.71 billion monthly users as of June 30, up 15% year over year. Mobile accounted for 84% of the quarter’s ad revenue.

Overall, Facebook Inc. on Wednesday said its second-quarter net income nearly tripled to $2.06 billion, or 71 cents per share, up from $719 million, or 25 cents, in the same period a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings were 97 cents per share in the latest quarter, beating Wall Street expectations of 81 cents, according to 15 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

The Menlo Park, Calif., company’s revenue grew 59% to $6.44 billion. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $6.01 billion.

Facebook has a long tradition of surpassing analysts’ expectations with its quarterly earnings.

The company’s shares rose $8.01, or 6.5%, to $131.35 in after-hours trading. The shares have increased 18% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has increased 6%.

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