SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook yesterday reported a drastic slowdown in revenue growth and failed to offer financial forecasts to quell fears about its ability to boost advertising growth, sending its shares plummeting to a record low.
In its inaugural earnings report since becoming the first American company to debut with a value of more than US$100 billion (S$125.1 billion), Facebook reported revenue increased 32 per cent in the second quarter to US$1.18 billion, in line with average forecasts. But it offered no outlook for the current period as some investors had hoped.
Shares of Facebook, which has shed a third of its value since its haphazard May debut at US$38, hit below US$24 in after-hours trading.
Revenue in the three months ended June 30 was US$1.18 billion, compared to US$895 million in the year-ago quarter. The 32-per-cent rise in revenue was Facebook's slowest pace on record. But the revenue increase was dwarfed by a more than fourfold increase in spending on marketing and sales, which surged to US$392 million.
Facebook posted a net loss of US$157 million, or 8 US cents a share, in the second quarter after taking hefty stock compensation charges related to its IPO. That compared to net income of US$240 million, or 11 US cents, in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding the charges, Facebook said it earned 12 US cents a share, in line with Wall Street's forecast.
Operating margin, excluding certain costs, was 43 per cent in the second quarter, a decline from 53 per cent a year earlier, amid a fourfold surge in sales and marketing expenses. Payments-related sales were US$192 million, below the US$199.3 million average prediction of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The company, created by Mr Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room, raced through eight years of break-neck growth that was to have culminated with its May coming-out party.
Instead, its share price has headed south as investors questioned its valuation of more than 50 times earnings, and its longer-term ability to sustain growth with users migrating to mobile devices. As mobile devices like smartphones and tablets penetrate deeper into consumer markets, the company is struggling to drive advertising revenue off them.
Monthly active users grew to 955 million at the end of the second quarter, up from 901 million at the end of March. But mobile daily active users surged 67 per cent year-on-year to 543 million users, adding further pressure on Facebook's business, which only recently began to offer limited forms of mobile advertising.
"They beat, but the Street was looking for more and that's why I think shares turned lower after an initial bounce," said Mr Michael Matousek, a senior trader at US Global Investors.
"The big question with the stock is how it will monetise its billion or so users. A lot of people think they can't convert those users to money.
Resource:http://www.todayonline.com/Technology/Tech/EDC120727-0000071/Facebook-shares-plunge-as-revenue-growth-skids
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