MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) _ Facebook Inc. (FB) on Wednesday reported first-quarter earnings of $9.5 billion.

The Menlo Park, California-based company said it had profit of $3.30 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.36 per share.

The social media company posted revenue of $26.17 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Fourteen analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $23.84 billion.

Facebook shares have risen 13% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has risen 11%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $308.11, a climb of 68% 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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