Facebook has released its reported third-quarter profit and sales that topped Wall Street the expectation, but its shares were down after it said on a conference call that the 2018 expenses is expected to rise by 45 to 60 percent, which is faster than the expected sales.
After trading in the market as high as $185 per share soon after the results were released, the stock dropped by as much as 2 percent and was down to $179, after the company issued its initial 2018 expense forecast.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned that protecting the site from those who have plans to spread out gossip and hate speech will drive costs higher. He even stated that they are serious about preventing abuse on our platforms, and that they are investing so much in security that would impact the company’s profitability.
Facebook’s ability to target digital ads at users based on their “likes” and other online behavior is so effective that some in the congress wants to regulate Facebook’s ability to sell political advertising.
Monthly revenue users was up by 16 percent compared to last years number of users, and is now at 2.07 billion. Its net income now at $4.7 billion from $2.63 billion a year earlier.
By the record, third-quarter ad sales was up by 49% to $10.1 billion, while mobile sales rose to $6.9 billion, or 88 percent increase in overall sales.
Ad prices should greatly impact future ad revenue than the number of ads Facebook sells.