Facebook Jumps 12% After Q3 Earnings

Facebook FB is up more than 12 percent after reporting the company's third-quarter earnings results. The world's most popular social media website reported a Q3 EPS of $0.25 versus the Street estimate of $0.18. Earnings per share were up 108 percent from the year-ago period. Revenue came in at $2.02 billion versus the Street estimate of $1.89 billion. Sales were up 60 percent year-over-year. "For nearly ten years, Facebook has been on a mission to connect the world," Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, said in a company release. "The strong results we achieved this quarter show that we're prepared for the next phase of our company, as we work to bring the next five billion people online and into the knowledge economy." Facebook has been one of the hottest social media stocks this year, rising more than 76 percent since January. The stock is up more than 29 percent since its infamous IPO. Investors had initially ran for the hills out of fear that Facebook may not have a sustainable business model. But after a few quarters of growth, the social media empire has shown that it is more than a popular website. Facebook's growth paints a positive picture for Twitter, which is slated to have its IPO very soon. LinkedIn LNKD, on the other hand, closed down more than nine percent this afternoon. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ