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Financial reporting is the absolute worst. Why say something like "estimates called for the social media giant to post earnings of 14 cents per share on revenu

Financial reporting is the absolute worst. Why say something like "estimates called for the social media giant to post earnings of 14 cents per share on revenue of $1.62 billion". Comparing the per-share number to the total revenue tells us next to nothing. Interpretation of the facts aside, they should at least report the relevant facts. Going to the primary source tells us that the numbers are $333M income on $1.813B of revenue, and the same quarter last year was a ($157M) loss on $1.184B of revenue. So revenue increased by ~$629M, and income increased by ~$490M.

minimax 13y ago
There is a lot of bad financial reporting out there, but this isn't it. They aren't "comparing the per-share number to the total revenue." They are comparing the current quarter's EPS to the EPS for the same quarter a year ago and to the consensus expected EPS. The difference between the expected EPS and the actual EPS accounts for the jump in share price. EPS is just a way of normalizing earnings on a per share basis, kind of like how we quote the price per share (about $31 right now) rather than the total market cap.