“While net income for the full year 2015 was Dollars 3.69 billion, free cash flow for 2015 was USD 6.08 billion”, Facebook announced.
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Daily active users totalled 1.4 billion on average, up 17 per cent year-over-year, and daily mobile users hit 934 million on average for December 2015, an increase of 25 per cent year-over-year.
After four months of testing outside the US, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that “pretty soon” six new emotions will be added to the social network throughout the world. On a call with investors Wednesday, the chief executive officer spent most of his time talking about virtual reality, artificial intelligence and connecting the rest of the world to the Internet.
Facebook’s strong quarter contrasted with a disappointing performance by Apple Inc (AAPL.O), which is worth about $519 billion, making it the most valuable US company.
“Heading into 2016, it is clear that consumers have shifted to mobile and businesses know they need to catch up”, said Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.
Facebook smashed analyst predictions with adjusted earnings of 79 cents per share.
A growing user base, solid foundations in the mobile space, and strong income versus operational costs mean that Facebook is continuing to see healthy profits on a monthly and yearly basis. “Facebook and Instagram have become the two most important mobile advertising platforms”.
“We believe Facebook is well positioned to increase its share of digital ad spend as well as to help grow the overall category given its reach and effectiveness for advertisers”, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a client note.
However, the way people are using Facebook is changing.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of $0.68 per share and revenue of $5.37bn, according to Capital IQ. If Facebook can continue to increase profits and revenues the way it did in 2015, the social-networking firm will continue its rise into the upper stratosphere of tech stocks on Wall Street. He also mentioned the company’s controversial “Free Basics” program, which allows users in developing countries to access the Internet for free – but only the parts that are part of a Facebook Internet bundle. Facebook’s revenue in the past quarter represented a 52 percent increase from the same time a year ago.
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Revenue in the quarter that ended on December 31 rose to $5.84 billion from $3.85 billion the prior year.
