Facebook Investors Are Ready for the Instagram Numbers

Facebook reports earnings on Wednesday, and investors expect things to go smoothly. Again.

There is one important part of the business that could make waves, though: Instagram. Facebook has never broken out Instagram revenue — and it’s unclear if it will start this quarter — but the standalone photo-sharing app has more than 400 million users now and Instagram advertisers now have many of the same targeting capabilities that they get on Facebook.

The result is what many believe will be a very sizable business for the social network moving forward. Analyst firm MoffettNathanson believes Instagram will bring in $1.8 billion in annual revenue in the next two or three years. SunTrust analyst Robert Peck agrees. He wrote in his pre-earnings report that he believes Instagram’s annual revenue will be greater than $2 billion by 2017.

That’s a lot of money considering Facebook isn’t saying much about the business. But investors are definitely interested, and any news on that front would definitely be, well, news. Otherwise, you can expect a lot of mobile, a lot of video and, of course, a lot of users.

The social network has consistently appeased investors of late with significant quarter-over-quarter revenue and growth results. This quarter, analysts believe growth will slow ever so slightly (this happens with big numbers, after all), but not enough that anyone seems worried. Analysts are looking for profits of 52 cents per share on $4.37 billion in revenue for Q3, growth of just over 36 percent over last year.

Facebook’s Q2 earnings showed revenue growth of just over 37 percent, so you can see where the “deceleration” comes into play.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Contributions are a key part of the future of Vox

Readers rely on Vox for clear, nuanced coverage that not only illuminates the issues, but poses solutions, too. And we rely on help from our readers: Advertising and grants cover the majority of our costs, but we count on contributions to help us close the gaps in our budget. In fact, we’re looking to reach 95,000 individual contributions before the end of the year. Will you make the next contribution right now? Our average gift is just $20 — and it goes a long way in helping us keep our work free. Vox is here to help everyone understand what’s shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. Join that mission by making a contribution today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via