Facebook tops Wall Street revenue target in fourth quarter

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's revenue grew 49 percent in the fourth quarter, as strength in mobile advertising helped the world's largest Internet social network beat Wall Street's TARGET (TGT.NY)

Shares of Facebook edged up less than 1 percent to $76.80 in after hours trading.

The company said on Wednesday it ended 2014 with 1.39 billion monthly users, with 86 percent of them accessing its service on smartphones and other mobile devices.

Mobile ads accounted for 69 percent of advertising revenue in the fourth quarter, or $2.48 billion.

Facebook's fourth-quarter overall revenue grew at the slowest rate since the beginning of 2013, to $3.85 billion, compared to $2.59 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S had forecast $3.77 billion.

Facebook said it earned 54 cents a share, excluding certain items, in the fourth quarter, beating the average analyst estimate of 49 cents.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Chang)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky