Wow what a ride from the IPO to the latest earnings report in Facebook (FB, quote). Facebook’s earnings rocketed on 61% jump in revenue for the previous quarter. To say they crushed estimates would be an understatement not to mention it’s the 9th straight surprise beat.
Looking the numbers we find Q2 revenues of $2.91 billion and income in quarter ending in June was at surprising $791 million more than double the same period last year of $333 million. Now this does take in account of excluding a one-one time charges that brings the per share price to $0.42. Facebook also reported an increase of 48% in operating margins compare to the same period last year of 31% operating margins.
Now hold on to your seats…this puts Facebook on the same playing field of IBM (quote) with about $190 billion market value.
Facebook’s mobile ads accounted for nearly 62% of its total advertising revenue an increase from a solid 42% last year. However, expectations were clearly set that investors should not expect any meaningful monetization in the near term on its newest acquisitions. These would include WhatsApp and Instagram.
Facebook also reported 40 million new users in Q2 for a total of 1.32 billion users. With 829 users million accessing Facebook on daily basis and mobile users grew to 1.07 billion. Impressive numbers especially since I do not have Facebook account and never found the need to tell the world about every move I make… But I do like to make money and Facebook is clearly doing this for investors. My preferred way to play Facebook is via options. Remember with such high flying names like Facebook one hint of not firing on all cylinders can send the stock falling and options clear define the risk as a set risk. We’ve been bullish on Face for a while now and use the name as one of preferred stocks to trade options in Curve Ahead Market Strategies Option Alert Service.