Facebook on Wednesday turned in yet another stellar earnings report that topped analysts' estimates across the board.
For the third quarter ending September 30, the world's largest social network reported revenue of $7.01 billion with earnings per share of $1.09 versus analyst estimates of $6.92 billion and $0.97 in revenue and profit, respectively. Revenue was up 56 percent compared to the $4.5 billion Facebook earned in the same period a year ago.
As The Wall Street Journal highlights, this is the sixth straight quarter in which Facebook has topped analysts' expectations.
Facebook said it now has 1.79 billion monthly active users, up from 1.71 billion last quarter. That's a mind-boggling figure when you consider that the global population sits somewhere around the 7.4 billion mark meaning nearly one in four people on the planet are now using Facebook.
Facebook's mobile advertising unit continues to serve as the social network's cash cow. Advertising as a whole accounted for 78 percent of Facebook's total revenue - of that, mobile devices contributed 84 percent.
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said they had another good quarter, adding that they're making progress putting video first across their apps and executing their 10-year technology roadmap.
With its core social network and other properties such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus VR, Zuckerberg and company's future certainly looks promising.
Image courtesy Bloomberg News