Facebook beats Street 4Q forecasts

Facebook Inc. (FB) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $3.56 billion.

On a per-share basis, the Menlo Park, California-based company said it had net income of $1.21. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.41 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.34 per share.

The social media company posted revenue of $8.81 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $8.47 billion.

Facebook shares have increased 16 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased almost 2 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $133.23, a rise of 16 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FB

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Keywords: Facebook, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings