Facebook looking at a 70% hike in earnings this week: Reports

Riding on strong sales and advertising growth coupled with an increase in the monthly active users, Facebook is expected to announce at least 70 per cent hike in earning results this week, media reported on Tuesday. According to marketwatch.com, analysts expect momentum in ad sales should come from mobile ads. “The company is expected to report revenue of $6.9 billion, compared with $4.5 billion in the year-earlier period,” the report added, quoting market research firm FactSet’s analyst survey. Facebook, which will announce the earnings results after market closes on Wednesday, beat the FactSet consensus by 7 per cent in the last quarter. Facebook currently has more than 1.7 billion monthly active users and more than three million advertisers. Analysts surveyed by FactSet said Facebook may report profit of 97 cents a share, compared with 57 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Facebook shares have risen more than 6 per cent in the three months since its last earnings report. Facebook continues to monetise photo-sharing service Instagram and is looking to boost monetisation efforts for mobile messaging service WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger soon. IANS