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Facebook (FB) Stock Up 9% in Pre-market after Reporting ‘Stability’ in Ad Revenue

On April 29, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) reported its Q1 2020 results. Its ad revenue, as well as other earnings, showed stability and turned out to be not as bad as Facebook predicted in March. Therefore, its stock is now in the green.

Just the day before the Q1 earnings report, FB stock fell 2.5% below $185 levels, closing at $812.91. On April 29, when the social networking giant released its earnings, its shares rose by 6.17% to close at $194.19. In the pre-market today, the Facebook stock is further rising. By the moment of writing, it has added as much as 9.38% and is making up $212.40 per share.

Before the coronavirus crisis, Facebook shares reached an all-time high of $223.23 on January 29. In March, FB stock crashed along with the whole market, going down to the lowest mark of $146.01 on March 16. In general, the annual change of Facebook stock to date is negative, 5.39% down.

Facebook Q1 Earnings

The social media company has beat Wall Street expectations. In the first quarter, Facebook’s revenue totaled $17.7 billion, higher than $17.4 billion Wall Street analysts predicted. Besides, the revenue is nearly 18% up from a year ago.

Notably, $17.44 billion of the revenue has come from Facebook ad business. According to Facebook, it has “seen signs of stability”. However, in April, “ad revenue has been approximately flat compared to the same period a year ago.”

Further, the company’s earnings per share made up $1.71, slightly lower than $1.75 expected.

What has taken analysts aback is the number of Facebook users. Facebook’s daily active users were 1.73 billion on average for March 2020, which is an 11% increase year-over-year. Monthly active users made up 2.60 billion as of March 31, 2020, or 10% up year-over-year. The number of family daily active people has increased by 12% year-over-year and totaled 2.36 billion on average for March. Finally, family monthly active people were 2.99 billion as of March 31, 2020, or 11% higher than a year ago. The increase in user engagement from coronavirus pandemic and global quarantine.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated the economic crisis will last longer than people are anticipating. He said:

“While there are massive societal costs from the current shelter-in-place restrictions, I worry that re-opening certain places too quickly before inaction rates have been reduced to very minimal levels will almost guarantee future outbreaks and worse longer-term health and economic outcomes.”

Zuckerberg added:

“I worry that re-opening certain places too quickly before infection rates have been reduced to very minimal levels will almost guarantee future outbreaks and worse longer-term health and economic outcomes.”

According to eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson, Q2 will be “more challenging”. As she explained, countries and businesses reopen and end lockdown at varying rates.

Facebook (FB) Stock Up 9% in Pre-market after Reporting ‘Stability’ in Ad Revenue