Feinseth: Facebook Delivered A Blow To Skeptics And Critics

Social media giant Facebook, Inc. FB delivered a major blow to the skeptics and critics in its fourth-quarter results, according to Tigress Financial Partners' Ivan Feinseth.

What Happened

Facebook ended 2018 with full-year revenue growth of more than 30 percent despite many reports suggesting users are closing their accounts and advertisers are flocking to other platforms, Feinseth said in his daily newsletter. In fact, average revenue per user rose 21 percent from the third quarter and 19 percent from a year ago to a record high of $7.37, which beat expectations of $7.11.

See Also: Here's What Wall Street Thinks About Facebook's Big Earnings Beat

Why It's Important

Feinseth said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is doing a good job of managing the company and Wall Street's expectations. The executive has been vocal over the years that revenue growth will slow down from the 50 percent level to the 30 percent rate. Facebook is among the few companies in existence that can show such impressive growth rates.

Zuckerberg has also said user engagement levels are expected to decline, but more important to the business is the quality of user engagement rather than quantity, according to Feinseth.

What's Next

Facebook continues to boast multiple drivers of growth, including future monetization activities across Instagram, Messenger, Video and WhatsApp. The company is also looking to combine Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram into one superior messaging and communication platform. The company hopes to monetize the three apps with integrated advertising, which represents a key driver of future growth.

The analyst also says Facebook's stock has "significant upside" potential and investors should be buyers at current levels.

Shares traded at $169.25 Thursday, up 12.5 percent.