Facebook Stock Price Flirts with Triple Digits (Nasdaq: FB)

The Facebook stock price hit an all-time high of $99.24 Tuesday and closed the session at a record $98.95.

Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) stock has been on tear in July, climbing more than 13% this month alone.

FacebookLast week, Facebook became the fastest Standard & Poor's 500 Index component to breach a $250 billion market cap.

As the social media leader continues to grow its brands and expand its reach, "smart money" investors are piling into Facebook stock.

According to Forbes, Facebook is among the top 20 tech stocks that the richest fund billionaires are buying right now. Stanley Druckenmiller, Steve Cohen, and Daniel Och are among the billionaires recently increasing their stake in FB stock.

Among the 50 largest hedge funds, 22 hold shares in Facebook, according to FactSet. That makes Facebook a top 50 holding among the top 50 hedge funds.

The FB stock price will be closely watched over the next week as the company prepares to report Q2 earnings. Here's what to watch for...

Facebook Stock Price in Focus Ahead of Q2 Earnings

The social media behemoth is scheduled to report Q2 results after the close on Wednesday, July 29. Consensus estimates are for earnings per share (EPS) of $0.47. That's up from $0.42 in the same quarter a year ago. Whisper numbers are more bullish, with EPS projections of $0.55.

Analysts have also grown more bullish - as these ratings changes show...

Of the 52 industry experts who cover FB stock, 40 rate shares "Buy." Five have an "Overweight" rating on FB shares. Six maintain a "Hold." Just one analyst rates the stock "Sell," according to data from The Wall Street Journal.

The median price target is $100. But with the Facebook stock price already flirting with that level, upwards revisions are likely.

Last quarter, Facebook's monthly active user total was a whopping 1.19 billion. Daily user count was 728 million. Mobile users totaled 874 million.

With Facebook's capacity to reach 1 billion-plus people, it's the perfect place for advertisers of all sizes.

The mobile ad market, growing at blazing speeds, is expected to be worth $41.9 billion by 2017, according to Gartner. And Facebook continues to take market share in the space.

Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) had a commanding 46.8% share of the mobile ad market last year. But that was down from 49.3% in 2013 and 52.6% in 2012, according to data from eMarketer. Facebook, meanwhile, grabbed 21.7% of space last year. That was up from 17.5% a year earlier, and just 5.4% in 2012.

For full year 2015, Facebook's U.S. digital display ad revenue is expected to reach $6.82 billion, just over one-quarter of the total market, according to eMarketer's forecast.

Facebook stock was trading at $96.97 today, up an impressive 23.76% year to date.

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