And that’s a wrap: Facebook shares have closed up just 23 cents from the offer price, at $38.23, and way down from the $45 high of the day. In the after-market, the shares are down another 10 cents at $38.10�the shares are now up 7 cents at $38.30.
Shares of�Facebook (FB)�are being quoted at $45 on Nasdaq before the open of trading at 11 am, well above the $38 offer price.
Actually, the indication has bounced around a little, retreating from $45 at first to $43 and then $42. Stand by.
Sterne Agee’s Arvind Bhatia, who has a Buy rating on Facebook’s shares, and a $46 target, tells me this morning “The price seems like a fair price,” with respect to the $38 offer.
“They could have potentially gone higher given the demand that we’re seeing, but they left some room for upside.”
Now the open has been delayed till 11:10, apparently. The indication has dropped to $42.�Playing hard to get. Wedding jitters?
The average price target of 8 analysts surveyed by FactSet is $41.50.
A little light reading while yo wait for a quote: the most recent version of the prospectus.
Bloomberg TV�is reporting Nasdaq says it is experiencing delays in opening trading.
The average Facebook estimate for this year is $5.076 billion in revenue and 59 cents in non-GAAP EPS, according to those eight analysts I mentioned. That would be 37% revenue growth and 36% EPS growth.
Headlines are coming from Dow Jones�saying traders are “experiencing problems, changing, canceling orders.”
We have a winner: The stock has opened at $42.05, now at $42.49 and rising. �That’s an 8% gain, so far. Now backing off to $41 and change.
Down to $40.23�… $40.00. Low so far, according to FactSet, is $38.20.
Video game purveyor Zynga (ZNGA), which has made much off its money off the Facebook game “Farmville,” was halted by Nasdaq because of a circuit breaker. The stock is down $1.10, or 13%, at $7.17.
The stock’s broken through $40 and is $39.06, a 3% rise.
Sterne Agee’s Bhatia remarks, “I’m a little surprise we’re not seeing a bigger pop. I think it signals the pricing was fair, and from my standpoint it makes it a little easier. It’s difficult for an analyst if there’s too much froth. I’m almost glad to see the stock not trade in an irrational matter.”
“Normally underwriters try to leave 15%, 20% upside,” observes Bhatia. “The concern becomes whether or not the retail investor will be disciplined. I guess the retail investor didn’t get carried away.”
Now down to $38.07, up just pennies!�Actually, it went down to $38.00, and is hovering at the $38.01 level.
Now working its way back up at $38.74, now $39.80. It broke through $40, but seems to be having trouble at that level. It’s bounced back and forth above and below $40.
Zynga is still halted. There’s no indication yet from Nasdaq when it will resume.
Actually, Zynga was un-halted, then halted again by another circuit breaker, after rising from its earlier low. It’s frozen at $7.80, down 47 cents, or almost 6%.
There are continuing tidbits this afternoon about the�delays�with the open.�CNBC’s David Faber tweeted a little while ago the�Nasdaq’s�system was “clogged,” causing some traders to “back away.” The Journal’s Jenny Strasburg and Jacbo Bunge report the trade continued to be hampered with technical issues even after the open.
The team over at sister blog�MarketBeat is doing a great job, as usual. Among interesting tidbits, they write that unnamed sources say underwriters stepped in this morning to support the price.
Now holding steady at $41 and change.
My colleague Brendan Conway, who runs our�Focus on Funds�blog has an interesting item from�Ned Davis Research�on the likelihood of Facebook’s inclusion in index funds.
Zynga is now trading again, down 65 cents, almost 8%, at $7.62.
With the stock stable around $41, it must be time for the Taiwanese animated take.
Meantime, it’s not pretty this afternoon for other social networking, or quasi-social stocks:
- Zynga�is down 99 cents, almost 12%, at $7.28, after twice being halted;
- Pandora�(P) is down 53 cents, or 5%, at $9.99;
- LinkedIn (LNKD) is down $4.91, or almost 5%, at $100.04;
- Yelp (YELP) is down $1.80, or almost 9%, at $19.47.
Facebook shares are on the move again, downward, hitting $38.70�$38.07�or so.
It’s hit $38 again.
The biggest social loser of the day appears to be�Renren (RENN), which some consider the�Facebook of China. Its shares are down $1.29, or 21%, at $4.95.
The�Facebook-owning funds,�GSV Capital�(GSVC) and Firsthand Technology Value Fund (SVVC) have taken a beating today, as Brendan wrote earlier. Brendan on Wednesday advised against owning either one.
Going into the final minutes here.�Is this actually going to happen? Is the thing actually going to close with no gain whatsoever?
Just about:�a mere 0.6% gain from the offer price.
No comments:
Post a Comment