Facebook's revenue for the third quarter, ended Sept. 30, rose 32 percent to US$1.26 billion, compared with $954 million in the third quarter last year, and exceeded the $1.23 billion that financial analysts had expected, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Its net loss was $59 million, or $0.02 per share, compared to net income of $227 million, or $0.10 per share, reported last year.

On a pro forma basis, excluding items such as stock-based compensation, Facebook reported earnings of $0.12 per share, beating expectations by a penny.

Investors welcomed the news, sending Facebook's stock higher in the after-hours markets. Its shares on the Nasdaq were trading at $21.95 at the time of this report, up 12.6 percent from the close of regular trading, according to Capital IQ.

That's only slightly more than half the value of its shares when Facebook held its public offering in May. The poor performance has been blamed on concerns that Facebook can't generate as much advertising revenue from mobile users.