Facebook crushes estimates, stock rises

By Benjamin Pimentel

FB

 

 

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Facebook Inc. /quotes/zigman/9962609/delayed/quotes/nls/fb FB +1.50% on Wednesday reported a first-quarter profit of $642 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with a profit of $219 million, or 9 cents a share, for the year-earlier period. Revenue soared to $2.5 billion from $1.46 billion. Adjusted profit was 34 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet on average were expecting the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company to report a profit of 24 cents a share, on revenue of $2.36 billion. Facebook shares were up more than 2% after hours. The company also announced that Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman was stepping down. He will be replaced by David Wehner, currently vice president for corporate finance.