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Facebook聽issued its first earnings report as a publicly traded company on Thursday, with numbers that managed both to match analysts鈥� predictions and dismay investors who were hoping for a great deal more.

The world鈥檚 leading social network announced results for its last quarter that confirmed its revenue growth is slowing and its profit margin is smaller than a year ago. And even though top executives voiced high hopes for selling new kinds of 鈥渟ocial鈥� advertising, investors drove聽Facebook鈥檚聽stock price down in after-hours trading 鈥� to its lowest point since a controversial Wall Street debut that also disappointed investors.

鈥淭he bottom line of this call is that聽Facebook聽is no Google,鈥� said Karsten Weide, a social media analyst with the IDC research firm. Internet search giant Google reported its profit and sales both doubled in the first earnings period after its 2004 stock market debut.

Facebook聽said its revenue grew 32 percent from a year ago, as the company took in $1.18 billion for the quarter ending in June. The company had a net loss of $157 million, after taking $1.3 billion in charges for employee stock grants. After factoring out those one-time charges,聽Facebook聽reported earnings of 12 cents a share.

The results were just slightly better than analysts had forecast. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted, on average, that聽Facebook聽would report earnings of 12 cents a share, excluding one-time charges, on revenue of $1.15 billion.

But in terms of growth,聽Facebook聽was unable to match the 107 percent revenue increase that it reported a year ago. And while聽Facebook聽reported 955 million monthly active users, up more than 25 percent from a year ago, that fell short of the 50 percent increase in users the company reported in July 2011.

Facebook聽also said it delivered 2 percent fewer ads to users in the United States, as more people shifted to using the social network on smartphones and mobile devices, where聽Facebook聽only recently started selling ads on an experimental basis.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in some of his first public remarks since the company went public in May, sought to assure investors that聽Facebook聽is focused on delivering ads and other products to mobile users, whose numbers grew by 67 percent, to 543 million, over a year ago.

鈥淢obile is a huge opportunity for聽Facebook,鈥� he said during a conference call with Wall Street analysts.

But after being viewed as one of Silicon Valley鈥檚 hottest companies in recent years,聽Facebook聽now finds itself working to convince investors and advertisers that its concept of 鈥渟ocial advertising鈥� 鈥� ads that incorporate recommendations from users鈥� friends 鈥� can be the next big thing in online commerce.

Early tests of new social ads, including those appearing on聽Facebook鈥檚聽mobile platform, indicate they are more effective than聽Facebook鈥檚聽traditional display advertising, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said Thursday.

But she said聽Facebook聽is 鈥渟till in the early days of building that monetization engine,鈥� and she acknowledged that advertisers face a 鈥渓earning curve鈥� in terms of understanding how to use those ads.

Social ads are so new that it鈥檚 difficult to forecast what kind of revenue they will produce, added Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman, explaining why聽Facebook聽would not offer 鈥済uidance鈥� or detailed projections for earnings in the next quarter or year.

Analysts said that鈥檚 another reason why investors showed little confidence in聽Facebook鈥檚聽stock. Most companies do offer those projections, although some, including Google, do not.

鈥淣o guidance is a concern,鈥� said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee. But he added, 鈥渢his is a new medium. That鈥檚 why they鈥檙e reluctant: They don鈥檛 want to paint themselves into a corner.鈥�

Bhatia, who is still upbeat about聽Facebook鈥檚聽potential, said investors who reacted negatively 鈥渁re focused too much on the short term.鈥� But IDC鈥檚 Weide said聽Facebook聽still hasn鈥檛 proven the potential of its advertising efforts.

鈥淭here has always been this talk about social advertising and how effective it will be, but it has not materialized,鈥� Weide said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a story of hype versus reality.鈥�

Pressure on聽Facebook聽was already building after the online gaming company Zynga, whose business is closely tied to聽Facebook, announced Wednesday that its earnings were far worse than expected.

Facebook鈥檚聽stock closed Thursday at $26.84 and fell below $24 in late trading 鈥� the lowest it鈥檚 been sinceFacebook鈥檚聽May 18 initial public offering, when the stock debuted at $38. The highly anticipated IPO turned into a major disappointment for investors who expected the stock price to quickly shoot up.

鈥斺赌斺赌�

漏2012 San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)

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