Facebook is climbing ahead of its earnings
Facebook is higher by 0.5% at $131 ahead of its fourth quarter earnings release that is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Here are the expected numbers, based on analyst projections compiled by Yahoo Finance:
- Revenue: $8.5 billion, up 46% from $5.84 billion in the year-ago period.
- EPS (adjusted): $1.31, up from $0.79 in the year-ago period.
The social media giant is on a five-quarter streak of beating analyst expectations for both earnings and revenue, however, CFO Dave Wehner told investors during the third quarter earnings call to brace for a "meaningful" slowdown in revenue growth rates and "aggressive" investment spending in 2017.
Instagram has become an increasingly important part of Facebook's ad strategy, and according to eMarketer, Instagram it is expected to generate $3.64 billion in worldwide ad revenue this year, a 96% increase over last year.
Investors will also look ahead to Facebook's other monetization bets besides ads, like Instagram and Messenger, for signs of meaningful growth.
