[h=3]By BEN FOX RUBIN[/h]Facebook Inc. swung to a third-quarter loss, as both sales and costs grew for the social network.
[h=3]Live Now[/h]Facebook's measures of profit and revenue topped what analysts had expected. More importantly, it looks like advertising revenue is accelerating. The Journal is live-blogging Facebook's earnings call, which begins at 5 p.m. eastern time.
Shares advanced in after-hours trading, though as of the close the stock was down 49% from its initial public offering in May of $38.
The Menlo Park, Calif., company's core advertising business posted 36% higher revenue at $1.09 billion.
Revenue from payments and other fees were $176 million, up 13%. Facebook earns a percentage of the money paid by users for virtual goods exchanged in social games on the site.
Monthly active users, which hit one billion visitors early this month, climbed 26% from a year ago to 1.01 billion and daily active users rose 28% to 584 million. Mobile monthly active users were 604 million, up 61%.
During the second quarter, Facebook had 955 million monthly visitors and 552 million daily visitors.
[h=3]Heard on the Street[/h]Investors need to rethink Facebook's potential. What if the social-networking company is able to scoop up a few dollars per user per month, instead of the paltry few cents it does now? Read more .
The company said total costs and expenses rose 64% to $885 million.
Facebook's share price suffered from a flawed initial public offering, but the stock has steadied itself recently, though well below the IPO price. The social-networking giant has struggled to build up revenue on its mobile site, where advertisers generally pay lower prices and ad space is more limited than on a laptop. But, the company has been developing new ways to build revenue, including sponsored stories.
The company also has been hurt by Zynga Inc.'s weak results. Facebook relies on Zynga, which provides games including "FarmVille" on Facebook's site, for a chunk of its revenue.
For the latest period, Facebook posted a loss of $59 million, or two cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $227 million, or 10 cents a share. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, earnings were flat at 12 cents a share.
Total revenue was $1.26 billion, up 32% from a year ago.
Revenue growth has become a major concern of investors, who have wondered whether the company has the same growth potential as it did before going public. In the second quarter, revenue growth from a year earlier was also 32%, its slowest rate in at least a year.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted adjusted earnings of 11 cents a share on revenue of $1.23 billion.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at [email protected]
[h=3]Live Now[/h]Facebook's measures of profit and revenue topped what analysts had expected. More importantly, it looks like advertising revenue is accelerating. The Journal is live-blogging Facebook's earnings call, which begins at 5 p.m. eastern time.
Shares advanced in after-hours trading, though as of the close the stock was down 49% from its initial public offering in May of $38.
The Menlo Park, Calif., company's core advertising business posted 36% higher revenue at $1.09 billion.
Revenue from payments and other fees were $176 million, up 13%. Facebook earns a percentage of the money paid by users for virtual goods exchanged in social games on the site.
Monthly active users, which hit one billion visitors early this month, climbed 26% from a year ago to 1.01 billion and daily active users rose 28% to 584 million. Mobile monthly active users were 604 million, up 61%.
During the second quarter, Facebook had 955 million monthly visitors and 552 million daily visitors.
[h=3]Heard on the Street[/h]Investors need to rethink Facebook's potential. What if the social-networking company is able to scoop up a few dollars per user per month, instead of the paltry few cents it does now? Read more .
The company said total costs and expenses rose 64% to $885 million.
Facebook's share price suffered from a flawed initial public offering, but the stock has steadied itself recently, though well below the IPO price. The social-networking giant has struggled to build up revenue on its mobile site, where advertisers generally pay lower prices and ad space is more limited than on a laptop. But, the company has been developing new ways to build revenue, including sponsored stories.
The company also has been hurt by Zynga Inc.'s weak results. Facebook relies on Zynga, which provides games including "FarmVille" on Facebook's site, for a chunk of its revenue.
For the latest period, Facebook posted a loss of $59 million, or two cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $227 million, or 10 cents a share. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, earnings were flat at 12 cents a share.
Total revenue was $1.26 billion, up 32% from a year ago.
Revenue growth has become a major concern of investors, who have wondered whether the company has the same growth potential as it did before going public. In the second quarter, revenue growth from a year earlier was also 32%, its slowest rate in at least a year.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted adjusted earnings of 11 cents a share on revenue of $1.23 billion.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at [email protected]