[ditty_news_ticker id=”25027″]Yesterday evening we noted that Facebook’s stock soared in after-hours trading after the company announced inline revenue results for 4Q 2016 but blew away street EPS estimates of $1.34 with an actual EPS of $1.44. But, like with most tech company earnings, a slightly deeper dive into the results reveals that a conveniently timed accounting change created $214 million of extra net income in 4Q and drove about 73% of the earnings “beat” for the quarter.
On an annual basis, the earnings farce is even more drastic. For the full year of 2016, the tax accounting changes added $934 million in net income to Facebook’s P&L, or roughly $0.32 per share. – READ MORE
