Shares of Facebook Inc. rebounded on Thursday in the extended session after the social media giant beat Wall Street estimates for the second quarter.
Facebook FB,
The shares rose more than 7% in after-hours trading on Thursday, after a 0.5% rise to close the session at $ 234.50.
The company reported net income of $ 5.18 billion, or $ 1.80 per share, compared to net income of $ 2.62 billion, or 91 cents per share, in the prior year quarter.
Revenue improved 11% to $ 18.69 billion from $ 16.89 billion a year ago.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of $ 1.39 per share on sales of $ 17.34 billion.
Monthly active users, a key indicator of Facebook’s growth and advertising appeal, improved to 2.7 billion. FactSet analysts had projected 2.63 billion, 8.8% more than the 2.41 billion reported a year ago.
Read more: Facebook has withstood many storms, but the latest ones are reaching their core
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was one of four technology CEOs: AAPL from Apple Inc.,
Tim Cook, AMZN of Amazon.com Inc.,
Jeff Bezos and Sundar Pichai of the parent company of Google Alphabet Inc. GOOGL,
GOOG,
It was the others, to testify before a House antitrust subcommittee on Wednesday. (Facebook originally planned to report second-quarter results on Wednesday, but delayed them to Thursday.)
The warring company is in the midst of a worldwide advertising boycott by more than 1,000 companies opposing hate speech, violent content, and disinformation on Facebook’s digital platforms. The Who’s Who of the major brands that added their names to the #StopHateForProfit campaign or otherwise withdrew their ads from Coca-Cola Inc. KO,
and Starbucks Corp. SBUX,
to Ford Motor Co. F,
and Microsoft Corp. MSFT,
.
The full extent of the financial damage from the boycott will not be known until Facebook reports its third-quarter results, but there is a ray of optimism: Facebook’s top 100 advertisers account for just 20% of its revenue. Three-quarters of its revenue comes from small and medium-sized businesses, although it remains to be seen whether those companies withdrew advertising spending as they faced the increasingly severe pandemic.
See also: These are the main brands that have withdrawn Facebook ads
Facebook shares are up 14% this year. The broader S&P 500 SPX index,
It is up 0.6% in 2020.
.
