By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) stock was down more than 3% in Thursday’s premarket trading after the company warned of revenue growth slowing down significantly in the ongoing third and next quarter.
Social media and online platforms have had a scorching run last one year as pandemic-struck users logged on like never before, not just to share their personal lives, but also to watch content and shop while staying home due to fear of stepping out in public. That dynamic is widely expected to weaken as economies reopen and people return to work and life as usual.
“We expect year-over-year total revenue growth rates to decelerate significantly on a sequential basis as we lap periods of increasingly strong growth,” Facebook chief financial officer David Wehne said in a release announcing its second-quarter results.
Wehne spoke of more challenges coming Facebook’s way, most notably the recent update to Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) privacy policy which makes it tougher for apps to track users and source their personal data for targeting them with their ads.
He said the iPhone-maker’s iOS updates will have a greater impact in the ongoing quarter than in the second quarter.
The comments outweighed the many positives the second-quarter numbers threw up including a 56% jump in advertising revenue and 7% rise in both daily and monthly active users at the social media giant.
Total revenue rose 56% to $29.07 billion, driven by companies turning more to digital platforms to sell their wares to individuals.
Diluted earnings per share more than doubled to $3.61 from $1.80, topping analysts’ expectation of $3.04.