When Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) reported third quarter revenue above projections, stockholders indicated their approval, boosting stock prices by almost 5% at one point, says Business Insider.

During the most recent quarter, Facebook earned $4.5 billion in total revenue, compared to $4.37 billion predicted by analysts. That’s an impressive spread, but what’s more impressive is that Facebook’s revenue is 41% higher than it was for the same period last year! No wonder investors are excited.

Other highlights from the earnings report include:

• Costs and expenses were $3.04 billion, a 68% increase, year-over-year, but it includes research & development expenses of $1.27 billion
• Free cash flow was $1.41 billion
• Approximately 78% of advertising revenue came from mobile, a 12% increase, year-over-year
• 75% of Facebook’s revenue comes from North American and Europe
• 8 billion video views per day, double the views reported in April
• 500 million users are watching videos on Facebook daily
• 01 billion daily active users on average for September, a 17% increase, year-over-year
• 894 million people use Facebook on their phones daily
• 5 billion monthly active users, including 1.38 billion who are accessing Facebook on their phones
• 727 million are mobile-only users of Facebook, a 37% increase, year-over-year

Venture Beat reported that, in an interview with CNBC, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said, “We made a lot of investments in our ads business and those investments are really paying off. Our ad revenue is up 45% from last year…and that’s because we think we have the best mobile ad product on the market.”

Insider Take:

Facebook has proven once again that it is not only the top dog, but it intends to stay on top. Not only was third quarter revenue solidly above projections, but it was significantly higher than this time last year. Mark Zuckerberg, et al have also shown that Facebook has captured online traffic around the world, and that traffic continues to grow – especially on mobile. Its mobile advertising is stronger than ever, and is likely to grow with mobile apps like Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

What’s next? With other video platforms entering the market regularly, we anticipate Facebook will continue to grow that segment of its audience, especially once it fully rolls out its “suggested videos” product. Facebook will continue to invest in its Instant Articles product to sign additional publishers and, though it was first with this concept, to rival Twitter and Google’s version of quick-load articles.

Facebook has the time, money and team – and investor support – to keep the momentum going into the fourth quarter and into 2016.