Facebook Inc.’s share price up, doubles Q2 earnings with mobile ads surge

The biggest social network in the world – Facebook Inc., announced that it more than doubled its earnings over the second financial quarter, with sizable gains for mobile ads.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, commented on the performance of Facebook Inc. on a conference call with analysts: “This is a good quarter for us… [There is] opportunity ahead as we connect the rest of the world, and much room to grow”

According to the statement of Facebook Inc., its sales over the second three months increased by 61% and reached 2.91 billion dollars. This result beat the initial analysts forecasts of 2.81 billion dollars. The company also shared that its mobile promotions generated about 62% of the total ad sales, which is a 59% increase in comparison to the numbers in the prior period. Facebooks net profit more than doubled and reached 791 million dollars, with income excluding some items that amounted to 42 cents per share.

The company shared that its monthly-active subscribers increased to 1.32 billion, and its daily-active users number rose by 19% year-over-year to 829 million, with 654 million on mobile.

The Chief Executive Officer of Facebook – Mr. Mark Zuckerberg explained that the company is getting ready to make even larger investment in its long-term future, including internet.org, which is aimed at providing internet access to every corner of the world. As reported by the Financial Times, Mr. Zuckerberg said: “For the other apps outside of Facebook – messenger, WhatsApp when it [the takeover deal] closes, Instagram, I do just want to emphasize there’s a lot of work to set up the foundations of a good business community. There are years of work before those are huge businesses for us.”

Facebook Inc. was 2.92% up to close at 71.29 dollars per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of +172.83%. According to information published on CNN Money, 38 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Facebook Inc. have a median target of 80.00, with a high estimate of 90.00 and a low estimate of 60.00. The median estimate represents a +12.22% increase from the last price of 71.29.