Facebook Seen As 'unrivaled' For Mobile Ads, Beating Google

Facebook and Google will continue to compete head on as they both fight for a reigning share of the mobile ads market, Morgan Stanley analyst Ben Swinburne predicted Monday, after initiating coverage of Facebook at overweight. This comes as Facebook continues to nab a larger share of the global display market, with impressions on mobile surpassing those on desktop earlier this year. Morgan Stanley forecasts Facebook's share of global mobile display spend growing by another 30% over the next four years. The social network commands 20% of U.S. mobile time spent currently, with mobile monthly active users growing 29% last quarter to 1.12 billion. Mobile advertising revenue jumped 49% last quarter, representing roughly 66% of total ad revenue. Swinburne said Facebook now represents an "unrivaled" level of scale, targeting and engagement for advertisers. This, along with increased spending expected to boost R&D, will help improve earnings per share by 30% from 2015 through 2018, he said. Shares of Facebook were flat around $75 in recent trade. They are up 51% over the last 12 months. Google's stock slipped 0.6% early Monday.