Facebook, profits rise but revenues and users are below expectations

Profits exceeded expectations for Facebook in the third quarter, ended Sept. 30, but social media did not reach the goals of monthly user growth and revenue. Menlo Park closed the period with a profit per share of 1.76 dollar against 1.49 expected by the market against 1.59 dollar for the same period of the previous year, which corresponds to a growth of 9% at $ 5.13 billion from 4.71 a year ago.

Revenues were $ 13.73 billion, up 33% from the same quarter of 2017 and slightly below $ 13.78 billion that badysts had bet on. The increase in the turnover is the lowest in 6 years. Monthly active users represent 2.27 billion euros, 10% more than the same period last year and 2.29 billion expected.

In Europe, Facebook lost 1 million customers a month for the second consecutive quarter, but gained as much in the United States. And if the Gdpr, or the European regulation on the protection of personal data, weighed on the accounts, revenues in Europe remain "good", it was explained during the conference call with badysts.

The CEO of the group, Mark Zurckerberg, reported "huge opportunities" in videos and in stories, hidden format more protected, very popular on Instagram and ready to host ads on Whatsapp. He warned, however, that revenue growth could slow, particularly because the transition from "news feeds to Stories was less easy than expected."

The Chief Financial Officer David Wehner, talked about "mid-high single digit", or a single-digit percentage of the future income increase rate. With regard to abuse prevention, after the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the violation of user data, Zuckerberg said that "it takes at least a year" to arrive "at the desired level".