Facebook (FB) will report third quarter results this afternoon (4:05) and Founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg will host a conference call at 5PM.
Last quarter, the company lost 19% or $121 billion in market cap in response to earnings after closing at an all-time high. The largest loss of its kind, ever.
The S&P Capital IQ Consensus is looking for Q3 EPS down 9% to $1.44 (from $1.59 last year) with revenue up 34% to $13.82 bln.
After blowing out first quarter estimates in April, Facebook missed estimates on the top-line for the first time in thirteen quarters in July. Revenue still grew an impressive 42% off a $9.3 billion base, but expenses grew 50% as the company invests to keep users safe and secure in the wake of numerous scandals.
Daily Active users (DAU) grew 11% to 1.47 billion while Monthly Active Users (MAU) grew 11% to $2.23 billion in the second quarter.
Facebook reaffirmed FY18 expenses up 50-60% and said expense growth would outpace revenue growth in 2019 as well.
The Street is expecting Q4 adj. EPS down 1% to $2.21 with revenue up 27% to $16.46 billion.
TECHS:
With a $417 billion market cap, the stock trades at 20x EPS and 17x FY19 EPS, which appears to be attractive given growth and dominant market position.
The stock has been in a channel for its lifetime and has recently hit the bottom of that channel yesterday. It has been defended and looks like buyers are taking their shots into the print.