Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) said on Wednesday that its financial performance in the fiscal fourth quarter was better than expected. The company, however, warned of several cross-currents, including the COVID-19 related uncertainty, that might keep it under pressure in 2021.
Facebook shares were reported more than 1.5% down in after-hours trading on Wednesday. At £195.39 per share, the stock is now trading significantly up compared to a low of £107 per share in March 2020 when the impact of the COVID-19 crisis was at its peak.
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Facebook’s Q4 financial results versus analysts’ estimates
Facebook reported £8.21 billion of earnings in the fourth quarter that translate to £2.84 per share. The social media giant said it generated £20.54 billion of revenue in Q4 that represents a 33% year over year increase.
According to FactSet, experts had forecast the company to post £19.29 billion of revenue in the recent quarter. Their estimate for per-share earnings was capped at a lower £2.33. Late in November 2020, Facebook said that it had agreed to buy CRM company Kustomer.
Facebook said that it had 1.84 billion daily active users (DAUs) as of the end of the fourth quarter. FactSet Consensus for DAUs stood at a marginally lower 1.83 billion. For monthly active users, the American technology conglomerate reported 2.8 billion versus 2.76 billion expected.
In separate news from the United States, the stock exchange operator, Nasdaq Inc. also reported its financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter on Wednesday.
Facebook reports £7.42 of ARPU in the fourth quarter
As per Facebook, it made £7.42 of revenue per user on average (ARPU). Analysts, on the other hand, had predicted a lower £6.94 of average revenue per user for Facebook in the recent quarter. The Menlo Park-based company announced £18.30 billion of share repurchase programme on Wednesday.
At £647.65 million, Facebook said that its “Other” revenue made up over 3% of its total revenue in Q4 and represented a 156% annualised growth. CFO David Wehner attributed the increase in “Other” revenue to Oculus Quest 2 VR headset that remained in demand during the recent holiday season.
Facebook performed largely upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of more than 30%. At the time of writing, the social networking service company has a market cap of £567.24 billion and a price to earnings ratio of 32.27.
