Facebook (FB – Free Report) reported its third-quarter financial results after the closing bell Tuesday. Shares of FB climbed around 3% in after-hours trading following the release despite falling short of revenue estimates. So, let’s dive into everything important from Facebook’s Q3 earnings results amid a pivotal time for the social media powerhouse.
Quick Q3 Overview
Right off the bat investors should note that the Menlo Park, California-based company crushed our quarterly earnings estimate that called for an 8% drop from the year-ago period to $1.46 per share. Instead, Facebook posted adjusted Q3 earnings of $1.76 per share, which marked a 10% jump from the year-ago period.
At the top of the income statement, Facebook saw its third-quarter revenues jump 33% from $10.33 billion the year-ago period to hit $13.73 billion. This did fall short of our quarterly estimate that called for $13.81 billion.
On top of user data worries that have rocked the likes of Twitter (TWTR – Free Report) and even Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL – Free Report) , many investors feared that Facebook’s rising security costs would dramatically impact the company’s margins. Facebook said as much last quarter when it projected that its operating margin would fall to the “mid-30s on a percentage basis” over a more than two-year period.
Mark Zuckerberg’s firm posted an operating margin of 44% in Q2, which already marked its lowest level in the previous five quarters. The third-quarter marked the continuation of this decline, with Facebook’s operating margin down from 50% in the year-ago quarter to 42% in Q3.
Facebook’s total quarterly costs and expenses jumped from $5.21 billion to $7.95 billion. The firm’s capital expenditures reached $3.34 billion in the quarter, which marked a sequential drop from Q2’s $3.46 billion. It is worth pointing out that FB’s capex was $2.81 billion in Q1 and $2.26 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017.
