Editor's note: Sean states that Facebook has over 1 billion monthly active users, including 350 million in the U.S. Facebook now has 1.55 billion monthly active users, including 217 million in the U.S. and Canada.
Facebook (META -1.12%) released its quarterly report the first week of November and the tech giant continues to astonish investors with its ever increasing numbers. As COO Sheryl Sandberg pointed out, the company has three metrics by which its executives measure progress and track results.
On this video segment, Motley Fool's Dylan Lewis and Sean O'Reilly run through the top-line numbers you need to know.
Listen to the full podcast by clicking here. A full transcript follows the video.
The next billion-dollar iSecret
The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something at its recent event, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.
Sean O'Reilly: How did the earnings look, first and foremost?
Dylan Lewis: Fantastic. Actual earnings were $0.57 per share EPS against a consensus of $0.52 per share. Revenue was $4.5 billion against a projected $4.37 by analysts.
O'Reilly: Of course, the stock made a new, all-time high.
Lewis: Right. I think immediately after earnings had been announced it popped 5%. It settled around 3.5% or 4% for the week, but the market was obviously very happy with the results. There's a lot of encouraging stuff in here.
O'Reilly: Do you remember years ago -- and when I say "years" I mean two or three -- when everybody was like, "They've got to figure out how to monetize."
Lewis: It was the mobile quandary, right?
O'Reilly: It's just funny. Everything is 20/20 in hindsight.
Lewis: We will get into how they've totally taken over mobile later on in the show.
O'Reilly: An interesting thing you were telling me before we went on air, came out of the release and the conference call. That's their three goals, their scorecard; what is Facebook using to score itself internally? They broadcasted it publicly. What are these things? How are these things looking right now?
Lewis: I think one of the great things that came out of the conference call and why I always urge investors to read the conference call and check in on the companies that they hold, and the companies that they're interested in; you get a lot more insight than just the top line numbers that you'll get from a standard earnings report.
One of the things that Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook said in a conference call was: "Our results show that we continue to make progress on our three priorities. Capitalizing the shift to mobile, growing the number of marketers using ad products, and making our ads more relevant and effective." Those are your big three right there.
O'Reilly: I wanted our listeners to hear about this because before we went on air we were talking about it and I am way more likely to click on an ad if it's on my PC. I don't click on any there either. Is it that we're not talking marketers, this is actually people using their phones and iPads as their computer and that's what we're talking about?
Lewis: That might be the case. I'm in the same struggle with Facebook's mobile success as you are, and trying to really grasp what's going on. I am the same way. If I click on an ad on mobile it's by accident.
O'Reilly: Facebook has over 1 billion users, the U.S. population is 350 million, so 2/3 of their customer base is outside the United States. People outside the United States use their smart phones. That's why they're making the smart phones so much bigger.
People particularly in China use their phones as their computers a lot. It's very odd to me. Talk to me about the shift to mobile. Facebook and Instagram together continue to account for over 1/5 minutes of mobile in the U.S. What does that mean?
Lewis: That's one of the things they hit on the call. 20% of minutes on mobile in the U.S. by browsers is accounted for by Facebook and Instagram. That's incredible.
O'Reilly: Hold on. I'm reflecting on my day yesterday.
Lewis: Sound about right?
O'Reilly: That sounds right. Yeah. Don't tell anyone. I swear! I was looking up on Foolapalooza.
Lewis: I always see you at your desk on your phone. Now I know what you're doing.
O'Reilly: Yeah.
Lewis: That's amazing and it's something they talked about on the conference call. They have two of the most powerful mobile platforms at their disposal and they are absolutely crushing it.
