Facebook's market switch on a mixed results report

Facebook shares zigzagged after announcing third-quarter earnings higher than earnings expectations of 30 cents per share, but lacking revenue, as investors struggled against the company's efforts to maintain growth while improving the security of the social network.

Facebook's revenue during the quarter increased 33 percent from the same quarter last year to $ 13.73 billion, exceeding Wall Street's forecast by $ 40 million. This revenue growth represents the lowest growth rate in Facebook's history. A year ago, Facebook's revenue grew by 47%. Two years ago, revenues increased by 56%.

This slowdown reflects stagnant growth in the number of active monthly users on Facebook, which rose 9.6% in the quarter. A year ago, MAUs grew by 15.5%. Facebook saw 1.49 billion daily active users during the quarter, which was below the expectations of analysts, ie 1.51 billion users.

Shares of Facebook initially fell 2% after hours, before climbing 5.6% as investors determined how to read the third quarter's financial results. Once Facebook leaders launched a conference call to discuss earnings, the stock continued to fall, registering a further 3.2% decline and then a 6.7% rise.

Before Tuesday's earnings, Facebook shares had already fallen by 19% in 2018, compared with a 0.5% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S & P 500 index.

This volatility reflected the ambivalent message that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had for investors. While previous calls for financial results generally involved exhilarating rhetoric about Facebook's many strengths, Zuckerberg was equally clear in describing the challenges the company faced.

Zuckerberg rarely mentioned his competitors in past calls, but this time, Facebook Watch was "very late" on YouTube and Apple's iMessage application was its main competitor to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Next year will be another period of "significant investment", he said, while reassuring investors that Facebook should "ensure our costs and revenues are better suited. "

Zuckerberg also said that next week's midterm elections "will be a real test of the protections we have put in place," recognizing the role that Facebook has unwittingly played in allowing Russia to take its place. interfering in the 2016 US elections. "We will never be perfect, but I am proud of the work we are doing here," he said.