Facebook Company Profile (NASDAQ:FB)

Facebook trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "FB."

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July, 26th. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $9.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.19 billion. Facebook had a return on equity of 21.73% and a net margin of 38.84%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 44.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. View Facebook's Earnings History.

Facebook is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Tuesday, October, 31st 2017. View Earnings Estimates for Facebook.

46 analysts have issued 1 year price targets for Facebook's shares. Their forecasts range from $98.00 to $215.00. On average, they anticipate Facebook's stock price to reach $183.70 in the next year. View Analyst Ratings for Facebook.

Here are some recent quotes from research analysts about Facebook stock:

• 1. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Facebook’s mobile and live video efforts continue to pay off big time. Instagram has also emerged as an important revenue stream. Apart from mobile and video, the monetization opportunities of the company’s other subsidiaries –  Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus – and a huge user base/higher engagement levels are expected to drive growth going ahead. Facebook is also dabbling in augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which bodes well for long term growth. In the last one year, it has vastly outperformed the broader market. However, rising costs and stiffening competition for ad dollars is concerning." (8/9/2017)
• 2. Wells Fargo & Company analysts commented, "We believe investor expectations were high heading into today’s earnings release as commentary from third party marketing developers and ad agencies pointed to continued investments behind FB’s suite of ad products. Consistent with recent quarters, FB’s user metrics advanced in all reported regions, and advertising revenue earned per user showed material gains, though at decelerating rates of growth across all regions. Advertising revenue (+47% y/y) easily beat our and Street estimates, by 2.6% and 1.8%, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA was likewise ahead of our and Street estimates (by 12% and 9%). Reported GAAP EPS of $1.32 compared to our and Street estimates of $1.09 and $1.12. Total expense growth was substantially lower than anticipated, advancing 33% vs. our 42% estimate, and was accompanied by a narrowing of management’s full year expense growth guide to 40-45% from 40-50%. GAAP EBIT margin expanded 473 bps to 47.2%. Though lowered, the full year opex mid-point suggests a material 2H ramp in spending, a scenario supported by accelerated headcount additions. Even so, we expect guidance is likely conservative here. Flowing through results and model revisions our FY’17 GAAP EBIT climbs by 5% to $17.4B and our FY’18 GAAP EBIT increases by 1% to $21.7B. 2017/2018 GAAP EPS increase from $4.75/$5.79 to $5.16/$6.13. We maintain our Outperform rating and lift our price target to $185 from $170, implying FB shares can trade to 30x our FY’18 GAAP EPS estimate and 17 FY’18 EBITDA." (7/22/2017)
• 3. Stifel Nicolaus analysts commented, "Wednesday, May 3rd, after market close." (5/3/2017)
• 4. Jefferies Group LLC analysts commented, "With 4 million advertisers serving ads into FB’s massive base of 1.9 billion users, FB has built an unrivaled network connecting nearly every advertiser and consumer on the planet. This exceptional ad platform delivered another huge beat, driven entirely by the mobile ad business." (2/2/2017)
• 5. Instinet analysts commented, "Facebook's 4Q results provided clean upside to our above-consensus forecast, as user growth once again accelerated and ongoing strength in the platform drove better-than-expected engagement and ARPU; expense growth was slower than forecast, providing further upside to our 4Q operating income estimate. That said, some hiring and expense recognition may have been pushed into 2017, which is set to be an aggressive investment year. Mark Zuckerberg characterized video as a megatrend on the same order as mobile; FB plans to keep video first across its family of apps, as the company invests further in original video content in 2017E. Despite the anticipated expense growth, we raise our Target Price to $165 from $155. FY17E EPS from $5.37 to $5.86; FY18E EPS from $7.11 to $7.48." (2/2/2017)

Facebook saw a drop in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,253,760 shares, a drop of 7.3% from the July 14th total of 21,837,589 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 25,755,050 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.8 days. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Some companies that are related to Facebook include Twitter (TWTR), LINE Corporation (LN), Sina Corporation (SINA), Match Group (MTCH), Renren (RENN), MeetMe (MEET), Audioboom Group PLC (BOOM), IZEA (IZEA), Jiayuan.com International Ltd (DATE) and LinkedIn Corp (LNKD).

Facebook's management team includes the folowing people:

• Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
• David M. Wehner, Chief Financial Officer
• Sheryl K. Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Director
• Michael Todd Schroepfer, Chief Technology Officer
• Susan Taylor, Chief Accounting Officer
• Colin S. Stretch, Vice President, General Counsel
• David B. Fischer, Vice President - Business and Marketing Partnerships
• Christopher K. Cox, Chief Product Officer
• Susan D. Desmond-Hellmann M.D., Lead Independent Director
• Jan Koum, Director

Facebook's stock is owned by many different of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group Inc. (5.60%), BlackRock Inc. (4.78%), FMR LLC (4.53%), State Street Corp (3.17%), Capital World Investors (1.96%) and Northern Trust Corp (0.91%). Company insiders that own Facebook stock include Christopher K Cox, Colin Stretch, David B Fischer, David M Wehner, Jan Koum, Jas Athwal, Marc L Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Todd Schroepfer, Peter Thiel, Sheryl Sandberg and Susan Desmond-Hellmann. View Institutional Ownership Trends for Facebook.

Facebook's stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Renaissance Technologies LLC, State Street Corp, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC, Westpac Banking Corp, Egerton Capital UK LLP, HPM Partners LLC, Bank of New York Mellon Corp and The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company . Company insiders that have sold Facebook stock in the last year include Christopher K Cox, Colin Stretch, David B Fischer, David M Wehner, Jan Koum, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Todd Schroepfer, Peter Thiel, Sheryl Sandberg and Susan Desmond-Hellmann. View Insider Buying and Selling for Facebook.

Facebook's stock was purchased by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Janus Henderson Group PLC, Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc., Harbour Capital Advisors LLC, Magellan Asset Management Ltd, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd, Investec Asset Management LTD and Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership. View Insider Buying and Selling for Facebook.

Shares of Facebook can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of Facebook stock can currently be purchased for approximately $167.41.