n">(Reuters) - Shares of Facebook Inc recovered from an 8 percent slide on Thursday, finishing the regular session down less than 1 percent, as Wall Street's initial alarm over mobile revenue results and spending plans subsided.

Facebook said on Wednesday that fourth-quarter mobile advertising revenue doubled from the third quarter, but the results failed to live up to some investors' high expectations. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's comments about boosting spending in the coming year signaled that profit margins will be under pressure, adding to concerns.

"The initial fast money said earnings are going down, numbers are coming down, the stock is going to get hit," said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter.

"But the more people thought about it throughout the day, the momentum changed and longer-term investors won out, saying these are investments we think they should be making," he said.

Facebook has long established itself as one of the most popular websites with more than a billion users, but investors have worried that until the company's mobile advertising strategy takes off, revenue growth will remain shaky.

Three brokerages downgraded the stock, but most analysts said investor expectations were too high and Facebook's mobile advertising business was a good long-term bet.

Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser upgraded Facebook to a "buy" rating on Thursday, calling Wall Street's reaction to the results "downright dazed."

The stock market incorrectly interpreted Facebook's "mobile revenue figures as a negative when in fact they are part of a story that we can see as qualitatively more favorable," Wieser said.

Shares of the company finished regular trading on Thursday down 0.8 percent at $30.98 on the Nasdaq. Earlier in the session, the stock fell as low as $28.74. Facebook stock has lost more than a quarter of its value since its botched debut in May.

The company reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday and said mobile advertising revenue doubled to $306 million, suggesting it was making inroads into handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Investors were looking for at least $350 million in mobile advertising revenue, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a note to clients.

"While the trajectory of mobile growth may not be as steep as some investors were hoping, the theme of mobile as the future of Facebook remains intact," Munster said.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Daniel Salmon, however, said Facebook's 2013 stock performance would not be dictated by its ability to generate mobile ad dollars. He downgraded the stock on Thursday to "market perform" from "outperform."

Salmon said new catalysts were necessary to drive Facebook's stock price up.

(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore and Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Matthew Lewis)

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n">(Reuters) - Family Dollar Stores Inc (FDO.N) posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as its emphasis on selling more everyday items such as cigarettes and soft drinks put pressure on margins.

Its shares fell 8.6 percent premarket as the company also lowered its forecast for the year and said that December sales, which came in after the quarter ended, were hurt as shoppers cut back on discretionary spending.

The discount chain added cigarettes and other tobacco products, Pepsi drinks, gift cards, magazines and some other goods to its assortment in recent months to better compete against chains such as Dollar General Corp (DG.N).

While that change has helped bring in more traffic, those items tend to carry lower profit margins. Gross profit margin fell to 34.1 percent in the quarter from 35.3 percent a year earlier, the company said.

Its profit was $80.3 million, or 69 cents a share, in the fiscal first-quarter that ended November 24, compared with a profit of $80.4 percent, or 68 cents, a year earlier.

Analysts on average forecast 75 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 12.7 percent to $2.42 billion. Analysts on average forecast $2.38 billion.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 6.6 percent. The company had forecast an increase of 4 percent to 6 percent.

But in December, same-store sales rose only 2.5 percent

Sales of "consumables" such as food and beauty products - by far the chain's largest category - rose 18.5 percent in the first quarter, the company said.

For the year, Family Dollar said it expects earnings of $3.95 to $4.20, below its prior forecast of $4.10 to $4.40. Analysts on average forecast $4.24 a share.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl and Brad Dorfman in Chicago; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, July 10, 2012.

NEW YORK | Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:17am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street will open October with a busy week, highlighted by low expectations for global manufacturing data and the U.S. jobs report, but that could set the stage for positive surprises that help lift the market.

The S&P 500 .INX.SPX finished its third positive quarter in the last four on Friday, despite suffering its largest weekly percentage decline since June. For the past three months, the S&P 500 gained 5.9 percent - its best third quarter since 2010. In contrast, the index was down 1.3 percent for the week.

The benchmark S&P 500 earlier this month reached its highest level since late 2007. Yet uncertainty remains over whether stocks can hold their gains against the headwinds of a struggling economy. That explains, in part, the retreat over the last several days.

The S&P 500 hit a high of 1,474.51 in mid-September before pulling back by a bit more than 2 percent. A run at 1,500 seems possible, but the flurry of economic and world events ahead probably will prevent a major advance in the coming week.

Bulls are betting this week's Spanish budget proposals will be a preamble to a bailout request by Mariano Rajoy's government. The move would be seen as a first step to get the finances of the euro zone's fourth-largest economy in order and would clear some of the market uncertainty regarding the euro zone crisis.

Monetary policy is also on the list of market catalysts next week. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to speak on Monday and the minutes of the latest FOMC meeting are set for release later in the week. The week's agenda includes meetings of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan.

"I think we could see a rebound next week if we get some of the stars aligning and have Spain ask for a bailout, the ECB announcing favorable terms for that bailout, and if we see the Bank of Japan announce further monetary intervention," said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

"If Spain and the ECB don't deliver, we could set ourselves up for a further lateral move in the markets. A negative would be if Rajoy flat-out denies that they need a bailout."

The ECB and BOJ are set to meet on Thursday, with the Bank of Japan's meeting extending until Friday.

FACTORIES, JOBS AND THE DEBATES

Chinese factory and business conditions data will kick off a numbers-heavy calendar for markets. Manufacturing PMI, due on Monday, is expected to show a second straight month of contraction.

A snapshot of U.S. manufacturing activity will be provided on Monday when the Institute for Supply Management releases its September index. The September ISM reading is expected to show another month of contraction, but at a slightly slower pace than in August. On Wednesday, the ISM will release its U.S. services-sector Purchasing Managers' Index, which could show a slight deceleration in the pace of growth in the non-manufacturing sector.

"We have Chinese economic data over the weekend, and we'll see how markets react on Monday," said Wasif Latif, vice president of equity investments at San Antonio, Texas-based USAA Investment Management.

"It seems like the market is bracing for bad numbers, meaning if they're not as bad, it could be market-positive," Latif said.

Non-farm payrolls for September, due on Friday, are seen up 115,000, while the U.S. unemployment rate is seen ticking up 0.1 percent from August to 8.2 percent in September.

The jobs data will come on the heels of the first of three U.S. presidential debates, scheduled for Wednesday night. Recent poll numbers point to a strengthening lead by President Barack Obama, but a weak payrolls reading could give some hope to Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

"If Romney doesn't turn the ship with a very strong (debate)performance, the president is going to win," said Jack de Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory Corp in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

He said the trend in the polls has taken away some of the market uncertainty regarding the presidential election. He added that an ECB- or Spain-related headline out of Europe on Thursday could overcome almost anything that would happen Wednesday night during the debate.

"I think the market is coming to terms with the fact the president is ahead, and unless something significant changes, (he) will prevail."

(Wall Street Week Ahead runs every Friday. Questions or comments on this column can be emailed to: rodrigo.campos(at)thomsonreuters.com)

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

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