(By Balaseshan) Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) reported a quarterly loss due to higher costs and expenses as well as a higher income tax provision. Results exceeded the Street's expectations, sending its shares up 9.54 percent in the aftermarket.
Loss for the third quarter was $59 million, or $0.02 per share, compared with earnings of $150 million, or $0.10 per share, last year. Adjusted EPS was $0.12, remaining unchanged from last year.
Revenue jumped 32.3 percent to $1.26 billion. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, revenue would have increased by 38 percent.
Analysts, on average, polled by Thomson Reuters had expected EPS of $0.11 on revenue of $1.23 billion for the third quarter.
Revenue from advertising climbed 36 percent to $1.09 billion, while payments and other fees revenue increased 13 percent to $176 million.
Monthly active users (MAUs) grew 26 percent to 1.01 billion as of September 30, 2012, while daily active users climbed 28 percent to 584 million on average for September 2012. Mobile MAUs were 604 million as of September 30, 2012, an increase of 61 percent year-over-year.
Quarterly costs and expenses were $885 million, an increase of 64 percent from the third quarter of 2011. Excluding share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, adjusted costs and expenses increased 57 percent.
Operating margin fell to 30 percent from 43 percent, while adjusted operating margin declined to 42 percent from 51 percent.
The income tax provision for the third quarter was $431 million, representing a 116 percent effective tax rate, driven by share-based compensation expense, a portion of which is not tax-deductible.
FB closed Tuesday's regular session up 0.87 percent at $19.49. The stock has been trading between $17.55 and $45 over the past 52 weeks.