Facebook Reports Big Q4 Beat

Facebook Inc FB shares dropped in after-hours trading despite delivering a big fourth quarter earnings beat.

The social media giant delivered Q4 adjusted earnings of $2.21 per share, beating estimates by 26 cents. Revenues came in at $12.97 billion, $420 million ahead of estimates.

"2017 was a strong year for Facebook, but it was also a hard one," said Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO. "In 2018, we're focused on making sure Facebook isn't just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being and for society. We're doing this by encouraging meaningful connections between people rather than passive consumption of content. Already last quarter, we made changes to show fewer viral videos to make sure people's time is well spent.

"In total, we made changes that reduced time spent on Facebook by roughly 50 million hours every day. By focusing on meaningful connections, our community and business will be stronger over the long term."

Click here to see the full release.

Q4 Highlights

• 2.13 billion Monthly Active Users in December, up 14 percent year-over-year
• 1.4 billion Daily Active Users in December, up 14 percent year-over-year
• Mobile advertising represented 89 percent of total advertising revenue
• Cash and cash equivalents totaled $41.71 billion

At time of publication, Facebook shares traded at $180.26, down 3.5 percent.

The stock recovered throughout the after-hours session, and as of 6 p.m. ET was actually trading up about 2 percent.

Related Links:

Facebook Concerns Are 'Overdone,' KeyBanc Says Ahead Of Q4 Print

Facebook Wants To Make Your News Feed More Friendly: Here's What That Means For Everybody