By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rallied in after-hours trade on Wednesday after the social media giant reported first-quarter earnings that fell short, but revenue topped expectation amid higher-than-expected user growth. The company said it had seen signs its ad-revenue growth was stabilizing following Covid-19 related weakness last month.
"After the initial steep decrease in advertising revenue in March, we have seen signs of stability reflected in the first three weeks of April, where advertising revenue has been approximately flat compared to the same period a year ago, down from the 17% year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2020," Facebook said.
Shares gained 8% in postmarket trading.
Facebook announced earnings per share of $1.71 on revenue of $17.74 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $1.75 on revenue of $17.42 billion. That compared with EPS of $1.89 on revenue of $15.08 billion in the same period a year before. Facebook had reported EPS of $2.56 on revenue of $21.08 billion in the previous quarter.
Daily active users rose 11% to 1.73 billion, above expectations for a rise to 1.7 billion and monthly active users rose 10% to 2.6 billion, above the 2.55 billion expected.
Analysts are expecting EPS of $1.48 and revenue of $16.93 billion in the upcoming quarter.
Stay up-to-date on all of the upcoming earnings reports by visiting Investing.com's earnings calendar