Facebook beats Street 3Q forecasts

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) - Facebook Inc. (FB) on Wednesday reported third-quarter earnings of $2.37 billion.

The Menlo Park, California-based company said it had profit of 82 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.09 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 97 cents per share.

The social media company posted revenue of $7.01 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $6.92 billion.

Facebook shares have increased 22 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen nearly 3 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $127.17, a rise of 23 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FB

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Keywords: Facebook, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings