Facebook surges on booming mobile ad results

NEW YORK - Agence France-Presse

A smartphone user shows the Facebook application on his phone in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, in this photo illustration, May 2, 2013. Facebook Inc said July 24, 2013 that revenue in the second quarter was $1.813 billion, compared to $1.184 billion in the year ago period. REUTERS photo

Shares of social networking giant Facebook vaulted more than 25 percent in early trading Thursday following a surprisingly good earnings report.
 
Facebook shares were up 26.0 percent to $33.39 at 1354 GMT, the highest level since May 2012. The surge came after the company's earnings report showed large increases in ad revenue from mobile technology.
 
Facebook shares have not appreciably moved higher since the company's high-profile public offering in May 2012. But the company has made a priority of following its more than one billion members onto smartphones or tablets as lifestyles increasingly revolve around accessing the Internet from mobile devices.
 
Facebook reported net income in the second quarter of $331 million compared with a loss of $157 million in the year-ago period.
 
Revenue for the quarter that ended June 30 climbed to $1.81 billion, up 53 percent from the same period a year earlier. Facebook said 41 percent of its ad revenues came from mobile, compared with 30 percent in the prior quarter and virtually nothing a year ago.
 
"We've made good progress growing our community, deepening engagement and delivering strong financial results, especially on mobile," said Facebook chief executive and Mark Zuckerberg .