Facebook has beaten expectations with its Q4 FY 2015 earnings. The social media giant announced that it now has 1.59 billion monthly active users. For the quarter, it generated $5.8 billion in revenue and $.79 earnings per share, likely thanks to mobile and a growing global community.
These numbers exceeded Wall Street analysts’ expectations of an average of $0.68 earnings per share and revenue of $5.37 billion. Facebook’s user numbers also trumped expectations that the social network would see 1.58 billion monthly active users this quarter.
The number of both daily and monthly average users continues to increase, indicating that people are not growing tired of the company’s various services and that there are still more opportunities for advertisers. With respect to daily average users, Facebook now stands at 1.04 billion, an increase of 17 percent. Mobile continues to be the preferred means of accessing Facebook, now accounting for 1.44 billion monthly active users.
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Facebook’s Q4 revenue grew 52 percent from same time period a year ago, moving from $3.85 billion to $5.84 billion. Much of that was a result of the company’s advertising efforts, which saw an annual increase of 57 percent and brought in nearly $5.64 billion. Mobile advertising continues to play a big part in Facebook’s success, generating 80 percent of the company’s ad revenue, an increase of 69 percent from the previous year.
Much of the interest in Facebook has been around not just its core app, where people are looking at the average revenue per user (ARPU), but also the growth and ad strength of Instagram. The company didn’t disclose any information about Instagram in its initial reports, but may say something in the follow-up earnings call later today. However, Facebook’s ARPU worldwide came in at $3.73, a 28 percent increase from Q4 2014, which shows that more money is being made per user, likely through users clicking on an ad or taking a specific action.
Shares in the company were down 2.97 percent for the day, closing at $94.45. Shares are currently up 7.18 percent in after-hours trading.
