Facebook reports small gain in first quarter earnings thanks to higher mobile ad revenue

Social networking site Facebook reported first quarter earnings of 9 cents a share, flat with the 9 cents it earned in last year's first three months. Not including certain items, Facebook earned 12 cents a share for the quarter, a penny less than Wall Street analysts were looking for. In actual dollar terms, this year saw Facebook report earnings of $219 million versus $205 million in the previous year. Revenue came in at $1.46 billion, up 38% from the $1.06 billion that flowed into the company last year. However, costs and expenses soared 60% in the period, which hurt the bottom line.

Meanwhile, Facebook has made it a point to focus on the mobile end of its business and this has paid off. Mobile ad revenue now makes up 30% of total ad revenue, up from the 23 % share of ad dollars that mobile ads were responsible for in the fourth quarter of 2012. While the company now has 1.11 billion monthly active users, and 665 million daily active visitors, the number of users that visit the site solely from a mobile device more than doubled to 189 million visitors. Overall, ad revenue rose 43% in the three month period, the largest increase since the end of 2011.

Facebook recently launched its Facebook Home launcher which allows owners of certain Android models to replace the traditional widget-based home screen with a home screen covered with messages from your friends and family. A handset with the launcher already pre-installed, the HTC First, has already been released in the U.S. as an exclusive of AT&T.

After dropping 34 cents in regular trading, Facebook shares are up 8 cents after-hours to $27.51. The 52 week high is $45.00 while the 52 week low is $17.55.

source: Reuters