Facebook Beats Expectations, but Stock Falls

Facebook's fourth-quarter financial results surpassed Wall Street's expectations, but the company's stock is dipping lower in extended trading. Facebook earned $64 million, or 3 cents per share, in the October-December period. That's down from $360 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier when it was still a privately held company. Revenue rose 40% to $1.59 billion from $1.13 billion.

Excluding special items, mainly related to stock compensation expenses, Facebook earned 17 cents per share in the latest quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected lower adjusted earnings of 15 cents per share on revenue of $1.51 billion. Facebook says it generated 23% of advertising revenue from mobile, up from 14% in the third quarter. The company's stock was down 4.3% to $29.91 in after-hours trading. (More Facebook stories.)