Facebook (FB) reported better-than-expected Q4 results on Wednesday evening, beating on both the top and bottom lines.
Revenue during Q4 came in above estimates at $16.91 billion. Consensus among analysts was for about $16.39 billion in revenue.
The number of active users, a key industry metric, was slightly higher than what was expected by analysts.
Facebook reported 2.32 billion monthly active users and 1.52 billion daily active users during Q4. According to Bloomberg estimates, analysts were predicting 2.32 billion monthly active users and 1.51 billion daily active users, respectively.
The social media giant earned $2.38 per share which was higher than the $2.18 per share that was anticipated on Wall Street.
“Our community and business continue to grow,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “We’ve fundamentally changed how we run our company to focus on the biggest social issues, and we’re investing more to build new and inspiring ways for people to connect.”
Shares of Facebook soared 7% in after-market trade. While the stock has been beaten down over a tumultuous year, Facebook shares were up about 22% from their Christmas Eve lows.
Investors were also watching advertising monetization specifically on the WhatsApp platform and Instagram Stories. On the last earnings call in October, Zuckerberg was enthusiastic about growth opportunities through Instagram Stories.
According to Facebook, mobile advertising revenue accounted for 93% of advertising revenue for Q4, which is a 89% jump from last year.
Additionally, the company reported that about 2.7 billion people use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger each month.
The embattled social media giant has been under a lot of pressure over the past year as data privacy and misinformation scandals continue to dampen sentiment.
Facebook’s earnings conference call is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
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Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung.
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