Facebook shares jumped Thursday 28 percent, to $34, thanks to much-improved second quarter revenue and profit from mobile advertising, which has become increasingly dependent on Hispanic mobile users.
The stock is trading at levels not seen since shortly after its IPO last year during the second day of trading in May, when the company debuted below its IPO price of $38.
Facebook began showing mobile advertisements for the first time last spring.
The social network said mobile ad revenue increased by 76 percent to $656 million compared to the same time last year. In fact, Facebook said late Wednesday that mobile ads accounted for a whopping 41 percent of its total advertising revenue. That’s a big increase from 30 percent during the previous three months.
That advertising had been a big concern for investors since the initial public offering.
Revenue jumped 53 percent to $1.81 billion and the Menlo, Calif., company easily topped Wall Street expectations for the quarter.
The new ad revenue numbers come as Facebook moves forward with a mobile media advertisement plan that will allow companies to send ads directly to people’s smart-phones, even if the home screen is locked, reports say.
The new ad push is especially important to the Hispanic community which, studies indicate, is and will be the heart of future ad campaigns. According to Nielsen, more Hispanic consumers rely on their mobile devices for web use than Internet at home.
Just 62 percent of Hispanic consumers have Internet access at home, compared to 76 percent of the general population. Latinos also spend 68 percent more time watching video on the Internet and 20 percent more time watching video on their mobile phones than non-Hispanic whites.
