One of the big momentum tech trades so far in 2013 has been Facebook (FB). The social network’s stock is up about 10% to $29 so far this year. In recent weeks, Wall Street houses such as JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have raised their price targets to the $35/share range.
That’s quite a shift in sentiment. Back in September, Facebook shares touched a 52-week low of $17.55 and short interest in the company soared. The shorts have since moved on to other social media names like Groupon (GRPN) and Zynga (ZNGA).
While Facebook’s quest to open up new revenue-generating businesses like video ads, music streaming and maybe even search are still unproven, the company’s core desktop and mobile ad revenue outlook appears robust.
Facebook’s total revenue is expected to advance 30% to $6.53 billion in 2013, according to this post on Bloomberg. Analysts quoted in the same story also see mobile ad revenue hitting $339 million for 2012 and then reaching $1.2 billion by 2014.
Eric Steiman, manager of the Undervalued Opportunities investment model at Covestor, was also upbeat on Facebook’s mobile strategy in this interview with the E-Commerce Times.
One of the big wild cards for Facebook watchers is whether the company will make a serious run at Google’s (GOOG) search dominance. Last fall at a TechCrunch Disrupt conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted that Facebook is exploring whether to launch a web search engine through the social network.
Facebook is held in client accounts as of January 7,2013. This investment may or may not be currently held in client accounts. The reader should not assume that any investments identified were or will be profitable or that any investment recommendations or investment decisions we make in the future will be profitable.
