Facebook does a bit better than expected - but shares carry on sliding
Facebook in its first quarterly report as a public company did better than analysts were expecting - but its stock carried on sliding in after-hours trading as the social network's growth continues to slow down.
Facebook growth is slowing
The shares dropped to $26.85 at the New York close - around $12 less than its IPO price of $38.
But in after-hours trading the stock continued to slide , dipping below $24, a record low. Since going public two months ago , Facebook shares have lost 37 percent of their value
Second-quarter revenue rose 32% from a year ago to $1.18 billion—beating the $1.15 billion expected .
That compares with earnings of $240 million, or 11 cents per share, in the second quarter a year ago.
A second-quarter loss of $157 million was mainly down to high costs related to stock-based compensation expenses following its IPO.
Excluding those compensation exes , the company's adjusted earnings were $295 million, or 12 cents a share, roughly what analysts had predicted .
But the problems is the social network's slowdown in growth : Year-on-year revenue growth in the first quarter was 45%, compared with 55% and 104% in the previous two periods.
The results come two months after Facebook's shares sank on the first trading day after its IPO , on May 18. The stock closed then just 23 cents above its $38 IPO price. It has not been near that since .