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Facebook Stock Ends Disappointing Year One; Any Shot at a Comeback?
One year ago, Facebook stock (Nasdaq: FB) made its trading debut in one of the most highly anticipated initial public offerings ever.
While it's okay to offer a congratulatory happy anniversary, it's been anything but a honeymoon for the company and investors.
Some 421 million shares were sold, raising $16 billion, giving Facebook a whopping $104 billion valuation.
Then the disastrous story began: Shares were priced at $38, opened at $40, and then, within 10 market hours after the pricing, Facebook stock flailed. Technical glitches at the Nasdaq caused a delayed open, late executions and reports, and mispriced trades.
Lawsuits are still pending.
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Four Reasons Facebook Stock Could Tumble After Earnings Report
Facebook stock rose nearly 3% Tuesday to come within $11 of its IPO price - but a disappointing earnings report could send shares plunging if the social media giant doesn't show healthy improvement.
One of the biggest things to watch when Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) reports Q1 earnings after the close Wednesday will be how the company is managing the transition to mobile.
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Could Another Go at a Facebook Phone Actually Work?
A Facebook phone could be in the works, serving as the company's latest bold attempt to increase revenue and make money from its one billion users.
The social media giant sent out invites last week to a press event, "Come See Our Home on Android." Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) will host the event at its Menlo Park, CA headquarters Thursday.
Rumors state the mobile device will use customized software that's a version of Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android 4.2 OS. The software will dominate a user's home screen. Updates and information from a user's Facebook account will be posted constantly.
Industry insiders believe the company is working on the smartphone in collaboration with Taiwan's HTC. This is the second time the companies have collaborated on a Facebook-focused phone - with the first attempt only lasting a few months.
Could it be that second time's the charm?
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Should Investors Dump Facebook Stock for LinkedIn?
LinkedIn Corp. (Nasdaq: LNKD) just reported fourth-quarter earnings that blew away Wall Street estimates, a nice addition to its already impressive resume -- and one that is making LNKD much more attractive than Facebook stock.
LinkedIn earned 35 cents a share, nearly triple the 12 cents earned in the same quarter a year ago. Net income soared 60% to $11.5 million, up from $6.9 million. Revenue jumped 81% to $304 million up from $168 million. Analysts were looking for 19 cents on revenue of $280 million.
U.S. markets accounted for 62%, or $189 million, of Q4 revenue. That was down 2% from the previous quarter. But international growth was robust, kicking in $114.6 million to LinkedIn's bottom-line.
CEO Jeff Weiner called 2012 a "transformative year."
"We have exceeded our own expectations by a wide margin," CFO Steve Sordello said during a conference call.
Shares surged $12.11, or some 10%, to $136.20 after hours Thursday following the report. The rally continued Friday with shares climbing another $26, or almost 21%, hitting an all-time high of $150.25 intraday.
Since its May 2011 initial public offering at $45, shares have more than tripled.
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Facebook Earnings Preview: Will Investors "Like" Q4 Earnings?
Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) stock has staged an impressive rebound in recent months after the company's disastrous IPO.
Since mid-November, the social networking giant's stock has gained more than 68%, going from a near-low of $19 to more than $32.
Investors will be watching closely when Facebook releases Q4 earnings after close tomorrow (Wednesday) to see if the company can maintain its momentum.
Expectations are high, as a bevy of analysts have upgraded their outlooks for the stock, though it is still trading well below its IPO price of $38 and its high of $42.
Wall Street projections are for Facebook to report earnings of 15 cents per share on revenue of $1.52 billion. -
Is Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA) Doomed Without Facebook?
Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA), creator of FarmVille and other popular social games, has lost its special relationship with Facebook.
Zynga and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) have had a symbiotic relationship since 2010 by which Zynga was the only provider of social game software that was allowed to promote its games to Facebook's one billion users. In return, Zynga used Facebook's credit system to process payments even on its own Zynga.com games platform.
The close relationship between the two companies had made Zynga the single largest contributor to Facebook revenues outside of advertising. For its part, Zynga is thought to have received about 80% of its revenue from Facebook users.
"We have streamlined our terms with Zynga so that Zynga.com's use of Facebook Platform is governed by the same policies as the rest of the ecosystem," Facebook said in a statement. "We will continue to work with Zynga, just as we do with developers of all sizes."
The popularity of Zynga's games has declined in recent years as users are spending more time playing games on mobile devices. Zynga has had to revise down guidance twice so far this year and that has been reflected in the company's share price, which has fallen by 74% since its IPO in December 2011.
The revised agreement between Zynga and Facebook allows Zynga to market its games more widely.
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Facebook Stock Hits New Low, So What Now for Mark Zuckerberg?
Since Facebook's (Nasdaq: FB) hugely hyped and highly anticipated initial public offering on May 18 at $38, shares have been sliced in half, hitting a low of $19.01 in trading today (Friday).
Now, chatter is swirling that CEO Mark Zuckerberg should step down and let a more experienced executive take the helm.
"There is a growing sense that Mark Zuckerberg, talented though he may be, is in over his hoodies as CEO of a multibillion-dollar public company," Sam Hamadeh, head of research firm PrivCo, told the Los Angeles Times. "While in many cases a company founder can, and does, grow into the job, things are happening so quickly that there is precious little time here for Zuckerberg to do that."
Fueling the sentiment is Facebook's steady descent since its calamitous IPO. On Thursday, as the first lockup period ended, which allowed early investors and venture capitalists to unburden their portfolio of battered shares, the stock hit a fresh low.
Facebook's shares closed Thursday at $19.87, a far cry from its debut price and peak of $45 a share.
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Will Apple Buy Facebook? No, But It'll be More than a Friend
It's a question that was getting asked as far back as three years ago, and seems to pop up again every time the Facebook stock price hits another new low: Will Apple buy Facebook?
Some tech pundits think that because Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has so much cash -- $117 billion as of the June quarter - and lacks a presence in social media, buying Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) just makes sense.
Those with more level heads think such a move would be a spectacularly bad idea -- and extremely unlikely.
"I can see Microsoft making a stupid decision like this but not Apple - MSFT has a history of overpaying for questionable assets, being late to the game and having lost what truly innovative mojo they had under [CEO Steve] Ballmer's watch," said Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald.
"I think Apple knows that the Facebook model is kaput and that it's not profitable - very similar to Google in that regard, which has held off from really rolling out Google+," Fitz-Gerald added."Shareholders would revolt...and so would the institutional money."
But Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has strongly hinted at a cozier Apple-Facebook relationship.
Calling Facebook a "great company" at the D10 conference in May, Cook said, "We have great respect for them. I think we can do more with them. Just stay tuned on this one."
Why Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Will Not Buy FB
Facebook's shaky business model isn't the only reason Apple would shy away from buying the social media giant.
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Facebook Earnings Report Gives Investors Zero Reasons to Stick Around
The first Facebook earnings report since the company went public was released today (Thursday), and the numbers came in right in line with lowered, underwhelming expectations.
Facebook met earnings per share estimates of 12 cents on revenue of $1.18 billion. Analysts had expected EPS of 12 cents on revenue of $1.16 billion.
Estimates had been slashed several times and many experts did not think Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) would miss these lowered estimates - especially after is horrible IPO already delivered a colossal disappointment.
But the fact that earnings forecasts were so low made the fact that the company beat them a non-event.
"These earnings are meh," one equities analyst told Business Insider.
Another problem with the earnings report: There were no real clues as to how Facebook was ever going to make real money.
Facebook has had a hard time turning users into profits as more people use Facebook via mobile, an area Facebook has yet to monetize - and a key issue investors want addressed in today's earnings call.
"Everything is moving toward mobile," Debra Williamson, an analyst at eMarketer, told USA Today. "Gaining revenue from mobile and improving that experience are two things that Facebook absolutely has to focus on in coming years."
Reports surfaced Thursday that Facebook hired a team of former Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) employees to completely redesign the Facebook iPhone app, which will no doubt include some of its new advertising plans. The aim is to generate more revenue from its growing mobile user base.
But it's still unclear whether or not Facebook can do that.
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