UPDATE: Facebook (FB) Tops Q1 EPS by 93c, Revenue Beats

(Updated - April 28, 2021 4:07 PM EDT)

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) reported Q1 EPS of $3.30, $0.93 better than the analyst estimate of $2.37. Revenue for the quarter came in at $26.17 billion versus the consensus estimate of $23.67 billion.

• Facebook daily active users (DAUs) – DAUs were 1.88 billion on average for March 2021, an increase of 8% year-over-year.
• Facebook monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 2.85 billion as of March 31, 2021, an increase of 10% year-over-year.
• Family daily active people (DAP) – DAP was 2.72 billion on average for March 2021, an increase of 15% year-over-year.
• Family monthly active people (MAP) – MAP was 3.45 billion as of March 31, 2021, an increase of 15% year-over-year.
• Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $4.42 billion for the first quarter of 2021.
• Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $64.22 billion as of March 31, 2021.
• Headcount – Headcount was 60,654 as of March 31, 2021, an increase of 26% year-over-year.

CFO Outlook Commentary

We are pleased with the strength of our advertising revenue growth in the first quarter of 2021, which was driven by a 30% year-over-year increase in the average price per ad and a 12% increase in the number of ads delivered. We expect that advertising revenue growth will continue to be primarily driven by price during the rest of 2021.

We expect second quarter 2021 year-over-year total revenue growth to remain stable or modestly accelerate relative to the growth rate in the first quarter of 2021 as we lap slower growth related to the pandemic during the second quarter of 2020. In the third and fourth quarters of 2021, we expect year-over-year total revenue growth rates to significantly decelerate sequentially as we lap periods of increasingly strong growth. We continue to expect increased ad targeting headwinds in 2021 from regulatory and platform changes, notably the recently-launched iOS 14.5 update, which we expect to begin having an impact in the second quarter. This is factored into our outlook.

There is also continuing uncertainty around the viability of transatlantic data transfers in light of recent European regulatory developments, and like companies across a wide range of industries, we are closely monitoring the potential impact on our European operations as these developments progress.

We expect 2021 total expenses to be in the range of $70-73 billion, updated from our prior outlook of $68-73 billion. The year-over-year growth in expenses is driven by investments in technical and product talent, infrastructure, and consumer hardware-related costs. We remain committed to investing for long-term growth and our expense outlook reflects the underlying strength of our business and the compelling investment opportunities we see across our products, including consumer hardware.

We expect 2021 capital expenditures to be in the range of $19-21 billion, down from our prior estimate of $21-23 billion. Our capital expenditures are driven primarily by our investments in data centers, servers, network infrastructure, and office facilities.

We continue to expect our full-year 2021 tax rate to be in the high-teens.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Facebook (FB) click here.

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