AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
- Facebook is expected to report third-quarter financial results after the closing bell on Wednesday.
- Analysts are expecting the social media giant's dominant digital advertising business to deliver steady revenue for the period.
- The company's stock has proved resilient in 2019 in the face of intensifying political scrutiny, with shares up more than 42% year-to-date.
- Here's what five Wall Street analysts are saying ahead of Facebook's latest earnings results.
- Watch Facebook trade live on Markets Insider.
Facebook is scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings report after the closing bell on Wednesday.
Leading up to the results, analysts appear optimistic that the social media giant's robust advertising business will continue to produce steady revenue as it explores monetizing other properties such as Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
The chart below shows the growth expectations BMO Capital Markets has assigned to each:
BMO Capital Markets
In addition to money-making efforts, investors will also be looking to see if the company can continue to grow its massive monthly active user base of 2.7 billion across all of its platforms.
There will also be a focus on any commentary around how Facebook plans to handle several antitrust investigations from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and dozens of attorneys general from US states and territories.
The stock fell as much as 4.4% in late October after an antitrust probe led New York Attorney General Letitia James expanded to include 47 state attorneys general.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of Congress last week to address concerns about Libra, the company's cryptocurrency initiative. Libra has seen an exodus of major backers in recent months including PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa.
Despite the continuing onslaught of political and regulatory pressure this year, Facebook's stock has proved resilient. The company's shares are up more than 44% year-to-date.
The company warned on its second-quarter earnings call that it expects revenue growth to decelerate going forward, particularly during the fourth quarter and into 2020 due to ad targeting challenges.
Wall Street expects Facebook to report about $6.61 billion in profit on $17.35 billion in revenue for the third quarter. The company posted $13.7 billion in revenue and $5.14 billion in profit during the same period last year.
Here's what analysts are talking about ahead of the report: