Brandon Bailey covers Google, Facebook and Yahoo for the San Jose Mercury News, reporting on the business and culture of the Internet.
Facebook stock’s having a good day
Well. Facebook’s getting quite a bounce Wednesday after releasing better-than-expected quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The stock jumped more than 12 percent in late trading after the report, and it kept going. As of mid-day Wednesday, it was trading around $23.63, up more than 21 percent from its closing price of $19.50 the day before.
That’s still almost 40 percent short of the company’s $38 IPO price, of course.
But after months of wallowing around at barely half the IPO price, analysts say the stock’s getting a boost from renewed signs of growth in Facebook’s ad business, including in the relatively untapped sector of mobile ads.
Another hiccup is looming, however: Facebook could have several hundred million additional shares go on the market over the next month, as more early investors and employees are freed from lock-up restrictions on their stock. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged not to sell his shares. But if there’s an influx of shares from other sellers, analysts warn, that could put a damper on the stock.
Brandon Bailey covers Google, Facebook and Yahoo for the San Jose Mercury News, reporting on the business and culture of the Internet.
