Facebook earnings preview: Cautious optimism from analysts

It has now been more than a year since Facebook?s lackluster IPO, and Wall Street analysts seem cautiously optimistic about the company?s future.

Analysts are expecting revenues of nearly $1.62 billion, which translates to 14 cents per share, when the company announces earnings this afternoon. That?s up 37 percent from Q2 of last year, when the company reported $1.18 billion in revenue, or 12 cents a share.

As the mobile advertising space continues to grow, analysts expect Facebook to be well-positioned to capitalize on that opportunity. If the company?s current upward trend in mobile advertising continues, it should be well-positioned for continued growth.

The real question for Wall Street is whether or not Facebook can continue to drive revenue. The company said that it would begin selling video advertisements that would run in users? news feeds in the first half of 2013, but those ads haven?t materialized yet. One reason for that may be a concern about driving users away to competing social networks.

While it doesn?t seem to be in trouble yet, investors are watching Facebook very closely to see if it?s losing ground to Snapchat and Google+. With new reports showing that Facebook may be losing its luster among young people, that?s a pressing risk.

Blair Hanley Frank is a technology journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has also worked for Macworld, PCWorld and TechHive. He can be found on Twitter @belril.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/geekwire/~3/w6KAjskfn_4/

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