Facebook stock falls after showing 51% rise in expenses

Facebook beat on top and bottom lines, but the stock fell as much as 7% on Wednesday after the company reported rising costs and expenses and a narrowing operating margin.

• Earnings (EPS): $2.56 vs. $2.53 per share forecast by Refinitiv.
• Revenue: $21.08 billion vs. $20.89 billion forecast by Refinitiv.
• Daily active users (DAUs): 1.66 billion vs. 1.65 billion forecast by FactSet.
• Monthly active users (DAUs): 2.5 billion vs. 2.5 billion forecast by FactSet.
• Average revenue per user (ARPU): $8.52 vs. $8.38 forecast by FactSet.

Facebook’s full-year 2019 costs and expenses came in at $46.71 billion, up 51% compared to its total in 2018. That coincides with a drop in the company’s operating margin, which fell from 45% in 2018 to 34% in 2019.

Facebook reported revenue growth of nearly 24.7% compared to a year prior, making it the fourth straight quarter that the company delivered sub-30% growth.

The company on Wednesday also announced a $10 billion share repurchase program.

“We had a good quarter and a strong end to the year as our community and business continue to grow,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “We remain focused on building services that help people stay connected to those they care about.”

Facebook said it counts more than 2.89 billion monthly users across its family of apps, compared to 2.8 billion in the previous quarter. This metric is used to measure Facebook’s total user base across its main app, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.

In the U.S. and Canada, Facebook’s user base rose to 190 million from 189 million a quarter earlier. Its user base in Europe increased to 294 million from 288 million daily active users in the prior quarter.

Over the past year, Facebook has struggled with numerous regulatory challenges.

The company announced the libra digital currency in June, which has since struggled with pushback from lawmakers and regulators around the globe, losing key partners in the process.

In July, the company agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission a record-setting $5 billion penalty as a result of the agency’s probe following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The company is also facing four separate antitrust-focused investigations that were launched over the past year.

This story is developing.

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