What Are Facebook's 6 Most Important Metrics?

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) is scheduled to release it third-quarter results later in the day Wednesday.

Headline Numbers

The social networking giant is expected to report earnings of $0.97 per share for the quarter, nearly double of the $0.57 per share earned in the year-ago period. Revenues are expected to be up over a half to $6.92 billion.

Update: Facebook reported a beat across all metrics.

Beyond The Numbers

Although the headline numbers usually make waves, there are some industry-specific metrics that could be in the investors' radar. Some of the numbers Facebook investors may be keyed into are:

• Daily Active Users.
• Mobile Daily Active Users.
• Monthly Active Users.
• Mobile Monthly Active Users.
• Average Revenue Per User.
• Cost Per Click.

Daily Active Users

• Number of registered Facebook users, who logged in and visited Facebook through its website or a mobile device or used its Messenger application (and is also a registered Facebook user), on a given day.
• This measure increased to 1,128 million in the second quarter, up 3.5 percent from 1,090 million in the first quarter, with the growth prolific in Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world.

Mobile Daily Active Users

• Users, who accessed Facebook via a mobile application or via mobile versions of its website such as m.facebook.com, whether on a mobile phone or tablet, or used it Messenger mobile application (and is also a registered Facebook user) on a given day.
• The metric was up 4.4 percent sequentially to 1,033 million in the second quarter of 2016.

Monthly Active Users

• Number of Facebook users who logged in and visited Facebook through its website or a mobile device or used its Messenger app (and is also a registered Facebook user) in the last 30 days as of the date of measurement.
• MAU was up 3.5 percent sequentially to 1,712 million in Q2 of 2016.

Mobile Monthly Active Users

• Users who accessed Facebook via a mobile application or via mobile versions of its website such as m.facebook.com, whether on a mobile phone or tablet, or used it Messenger mobile application (and is also a registered Facebook user) in the last 30 days as of the date of measurement.
• This metric rose 4.4 percent sequentially to 1,574 million in Q2.

Average Revenue Per User

• Measure of the revenue generated per user or unit.
• ARPU was up at $3.71 in Q2, 2016 from $3.32 in Q1,2016 and $2.76 in Q2, 2015.

Cost Per Click

• Method websites use to bill based on the number of times a visitor clicks on an advertisement.
• In a recent research note, Goldman Sachs said it estimates a 1 percent sequential increase in cost per mobile clicks.

At last check, Facebook shares were down 2.1 percent at $126.78.