Shares rose 7% in after-hours trading after the social network giant said total revenue rose to US$5.84bn in the final quarter of 2015 – up 52% from the same period a year earlier.
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Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, said in a statement that the effect has been dramatic.
Net income surged from $701 billion a year ago to $1.56 billion in Q4 2015.
“I think the results show that Facebook’s efforts over the last couple of years to really understand mobile have paid off”, he said.
EMarketer predicted Facebook will capture one in every five mobile-advertising dollars in the United States this year and that Instagram will make up 20 percent of Facebook’s revenue from mobile devices.
Facebook’s photo-sharing service Instagram, in particular, is poised to become a material contributor to revenue in 2016, the analysts said. “We continue to invest in better serving our community, building our business, and connecting the world”, he added.
Facebook has 1.04 billion daily active users (DAUs) 1.59 billion monthly active users (MAUs) on average, up by 17% and 14%, respectively as of December 31.
Of those, 1.44 billion used the service on mobile devices, an increase of 21 per cent.
As the engines of commerce keep turning at Facebook, the firm’s executives and analysts are focusing more on how the company’s other bets are working.
Fourth-quarter sales rose to $5.84 billion, compared with the $5.37 billion average analyst projection, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “In 2015, people came together in many different ways on Facebook”.
“Advertisers are no longer asking us whether they should advertise on mobile, they’re asking how”, he said.
Excluding some items, the company earned 79 cents per share.
Cheered by the strong quarter, Facebook’s investors sent the stock up to more than $106 on the news in after-hours trading as of 5:45 p.m. The stock closed at $94.45.
He returned to work on Monday after taking two months of paternity leave following the birth of his first child late past year.
He reiterated his commitment to connect the world through Internet.org, and optimism for virtual reality and Oculus Rift.
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For the full year EPS totaled $2.28 on revenues of $17.93 billion compared with 2014 EPS of $1.77 and revenues of $12.47 billion.
