Facebook Inc. (FB) Q4 Ad Revenue Will Beat: Straw Poll

If a straw poll of the largest advertising clients of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is to be believed, then investors like billionaire George Soros of Soros Fund Management should not be surprised if the company’s fourth-quarter advertising revenue number surpasses analysts’ modest expectations, according to Business Insider, which conducted the straw poll.

In the third quarter of 2012, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) reported year-over-year growth in ad revenue from about $800 million to about $1.1 billion, and some analysts are expecting about $1.3 billion in ad revenue for the last quarter, which may actually be a slowdown in growth quarter-over-quarter. However, Business Insider revealed its results of the straw poll, in which it surveyed the largest Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) advertisers which accounted for  “several hundred million” dollars in ad expenditures.

Facebook Inc. (FB)

Despite some negative perceptions about Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) – the fake users/likes issue that has not been effectively addressed yet, the halting of beta testing for a mobile app ad network, and changes to the News Feed algorithm which affects the number of “friends” that receive posts for free, as examples – the straw poll seems to indicate that Facebook may do better than analysts suggest during the holiday quarter. One Facebook client, in fact, went so far that the News Feed issue may actually increase advertiser spending, because the changes of the algorithm have essentially forced advertisers to pay for promoted posts in order to get their marketing or advertising posts to all of the Facebook users that “like” their pages.

Here are a couple of the comments from the straw poll: “Good. They will surpass.” “Really good … I think they’re going to crush it … there’s momentum on top-spending brands.”

As of 1 p.m. ET Thursday, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) was trading at $31.10 per share, up about 1.7 percent on the day.

Wht do you think? Do you have insight into where Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) will be on the top or bottom line? What are your predictions for the company and the stock in 2013?

DISCLOSURE: I hold no positions in the stocks mentioned.

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