The decision of Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook last year to roll the dice on mobile software is now paying off huge dividends for the social media site.
Sales of wireless device ads are on track to pass the revenue from desktops.
The surging demand for advertising on mobile devices has helped revenue and profit top estimates of analysts for the second quarter.
Earnings might finally silence the concerns investors and analysts have voiced since May 2012 when Facebook had its initial public offering, that the popularity increase of tablets and smartphones was outpacing the company’s ability to earn money selling ads to users of the mobile devices.
Allowing marketers to show messages on news feeds on the devices and shifting its development efforts to applications, Facebook is now delivering on his previous promise of making the company a business that is mobile first, said one Wall Street analysts.
Revenue was up 53% to end the latest three months at $1.81, said the company on Wednesday. Profit eliminating certain items finished at 19 cents per share. Wall Street had projected the company profit to be only 14 cents per share on revenue of just $1.62 billion.
As of early Thursday, Facebook shares were up to $31.70, which signaled the company could exceed its previous one day increase of 19% from back in October of last year.
Facebook’s IPO share price was $38 last year and in September of 2012 dropped to a low of $17.55. Even with the gain to start the day, the stock was still 17% below its IPO price.
