Surprisingly Strong Quarter Lifts Facebook Stock

Facebook's stock is flying high after the world's biggest social network posted higher revenue from mobile ads and delivered a healthy second-quarter profit that reversed a loss a year earlier. Facebook said today that it earned $333 million, or 13 cents per share, in the April-June period. That's up from a loss of $157 million, or 8 cents per share, a year ago. Adjusted earnings were $488 million, or 19 cents per share, above the 14 cents that analysts were expecting.

The company's stock jumped $4.93, or 18.6%, to $31.44 in extended trading after closing at $26.51. The stock priced at $38 when Facebook went public in May 2012 and hasn't hit that since. "I'm completely surprised," said Gartner analyst Brian Blau, summing up the sentiments of many investors. Facebook's revenue grew 53% to $1.81 billion from $1.18 billion, well above the $1.62 million that analysts were expecting. Mobile revenue was $655.6 million, or 41% of the quarter's total advertising revenue of $1.6 billion. (More Facebook stories.)