MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) _ Facebook Inc. (FB) on Thursday reported third-quarter net income of $7.85 billion.

The Menlo Park, California-based company said it had profit of $2.71 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.94 per share.

The social media company posted revenue of $21.47 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $19.89 billion.

Facebook shares have risen 37% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 2.5%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $281.63, a climb of 49% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FB

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