Facebook stock hits all-time highs on strong earnings

Facebook stock jumped to record highs Thursday as strong earnings from the leading social network sparked fresh buying. The shares closed up 5.2 per cent at $74.98, well above the record of $72.03 hit on March 10. The rise lifted Facebook's market value to some $190 billion. Facebook said Wednesday that profits leapt to $791 million during the three months ended June 30, a 138 per cent increase from a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter surged to $2.91 billion, with approximately 62 per cent of that money coming from ads served up on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablet computers. Ad revenues overall were up 67 per cent from a year ago to $2.68 billion. The number of people who visited the online social network at least once a month climbed to 1.32 billion in a 14 per cent rise from the same quarter last year, according to Facebook. The number of active users on mobile devices rose to 1.07 billion, according to AFP.