[h=3]By BEN FOX RUBIN[/h]Facebook Inc. met Wall Street's tempered expectations in its first quarterly report as a public company, but its stock fell 10% in after-hours trading as its growth continues to slow down.
The social networking company reported a second-quarter loss of $157 million mainly due to high costs related to stock-based compensation expenses. Excluding those extraordinary costs, the company's adjusted earnings were $295 million, or 12 cents a share, in line with analysts' estimates.
Wall Street has been closely watching revenue figures to see if the company still has strong growth potential. While second-quarter revenue rose 32% from a year ago to $1.18 billion—beating the $1.15 billion expected by analysts—that growth has slowed considerably from just a few quarters ago. Year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter was 45%, and 55% and 104% in the previous two periods.
Shares fell 10.7% after hours to $26.84. As of Thursday's close, the stock was down 29% from its initial public offering price of $38 a share.
Total costs and expenses surged to $1.93 billion from $488 million, driven largely by share-based compensation costs.
Advertising revenue was up 28% at $992 million and payments and other fees were $192 million.
Monthly active users climbed 29% from a year ago at 955 million and daily active users rose 32% to 552 million. Mobile monthly active users were 543 million, up 67%.
During the first quarter, Facebook had 901 million monthly visitors and 526 million daily visitors.
Facebook has faced a rocky start in its short time as a public company. The social network has been hit with questions on whether ads on its site are worth their high price and the company continues to struggle with figuring out how to goose profits from its mobile site, where advertising opportunities are limited.
The company's shares have mostly fallen since its flawed initial public offering in May. During Thursday trading, the stock was dragged down again, this time by Zynga Inc.'s lackluster second-quarter results. Facebook relies on Zynga, which provides casual games such as "FarmVille" on the Facebook platform, for a chunk of its revenue.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at [email protected]
The social networking company reported a second-quarter loss of $157 million mainly due to high costs related to stock-based compensation expenses. Excluding those extraordinary costs, the company's adjusted earnings were $295 million, or 12 cents a share, in line with analysts' estimates.
Wall Street has been closely watching revenue figures to see if the company still has strong growth potential. While second-quarter revenue rose 32% from a year ago to $1.18 billion—beating the $1.15 billion expected by analysts—that growth has slowed considerably from just a few quarters ago. Year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter was 45%, and 55% and 104% in the previous two periods.
Shares fell 10.7% after hours to $26.84. As of Thursday's close, the stock was down 29% from its initial public offering price of $38 a share.
Total costs and expenses surged to $1.93 billion from $488 million, driven largely by share-based compensation costs.
Advertising revenue was up 28% at $992 million and payments and other fees were $192 million.
Monthly active users climbed 29% from a year ago at 955 million and daily active users rose 32% to 552 million. Mobile monthly active users were 543 million, up 67%.
During the first quarter, Facebook had 901 million monthly visitors and 526 million daily visitors.
Facebook has faced a rocky start in its short time as a public company. The social network has been hit with questions on whether ads on its site are worth their high price and the company continues to struggle with figuring out how to goose profits from its mobile site, where advertising opportunities are limited.
The company's shares have mostly fallen since its flawed initial public offering in May. During Thursday trading, the stock was dragged down again, this time by Zynga Inc.'s lackluster second-quarter results. Facebook relies on Zynga, which provides casual games such as "FarmVille" on the Facebook platform, for a chunk of its revenue.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at [email protected]