Shares of micro-blogging site Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) have surged on their trading debut. Twitter completed its IPO on Wednesday. The San Francisco, California-based company priced its IPO at $26 per share. The company offered 70 million shares in the much-awaited IPO, raising $2 billion. Twitter surged to $50.09 earlier today as the company saw strong demand for its shares. At last check, Twitter’s market cap is $25 billion.
Category: Social Media Stocks
Facebook Shares Remain Flat Despite Strong Q3 Results
Facebook Inc.’s (NASDAQ: FB) decision to not increase the frequency of ads it shows to its users in the near future hasn’t been welcomed by investors. Shares were mainly flat on Thursday despite a better-than-expected fiscal third quarter results, which were by the social networking giant on Wednesday after the market close. For the latest quarter, Facebook reported earnings of 25 cents per share on revenue of $2.02 billion, beating Wall Street’s expectation for earnings of 19 cents per share on revenue of $1.91 billion. The company’s revenue from mobile advertising continued to grow in the latest quarter.
Facebook Buys Israeli Start-Up App Developer, Onavo
Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has agreed to acquire an Israeli start-up app maker, Onavo for an undisclosed sum. Onavo, which was founded three year ago, develops mobile utility app, helping users to cut phone costs through more effective use of data. According to Calcalist, a financial website, the online social networking giant is paying between $150 million to $200 million. After the deal is closed, Onavo app will continue to remain as a standalone brand. The deal marks Facebook’s biggest ever acquisition in Israel. Shares, however, fell on Monday. At last check, shares were down 2.20% to 48.03.
Canaccord Genuity Initiates Coverage on Facebook
Equity research analysts at Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage on Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) from Wednesday. The firm assigned a “buy” rating and set a price target of $60.00. The price target implies an upside potential of 23.84% over Tuesday’s closing stock price. In the research report, analyst said that the reason behind initiating coverage of FB with a “buy” rating was the belief that company’s is still in a very early stage of generating revenue from its huge user base, despite twofold jump in its stock price.
Groupon Upgraded By Stifel Nicolaus
Shares of Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) soared on Thursday to clock a new 52 week high after Stifel Nicolaus upgraded the online marketplace stock to a “buy” from a “hold”. The firm has a price target of $16. Ever since Eric Lefkofsky took over the reins of the Company from Andrew Masson, the stock has rebounded after hitting a record low in late 2012. In the research report, Stifel’s research analyst, Jordan Rohan said that although the company hasn’t shown acceleration in growth, it could do it in the near-future and perhaps in this quarter itself.
Tencent Holdings Buys Minority Stake in Sohu.com Search Engine Unit, Sogou
Tencent Holdings Ltd. said on Monday that it has bought a minority stake in China’s third largest search engine by traffic, Sogou for $448 million. Sogou search engine is owned by Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU). The deal underpins that how large Chinese internet companies are aggressively expanding their product offerings amid intensifying competition. The deal will give Tencent a 36.5% stake in Sogou. According to research firm, CNZZ, Tencent’s aim was to prevent other big internet companies such as Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU) and Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU) from getting their hands on the search engine.
Groupon Acquires Online Booking App, Blink
Daily deals site, Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) announced on Monday that it has acquired Blink Booking. Blink Booking is a Madrid based start-up which made last minute hotel booking app called Blink. The terms of the deal were not revealed though. Blink, which was founded in 2011, raised $2.5 million last year in order to expand its traction. According to Blink Booking’s website, the app at present offers last minute bookings for hotels spread across 184 cities in eight countries. The deal will help Groupon to expand its presence in Europe. The Blink app has been downloaded more than 600,000 times so far.
Groupon Shares Rally After Morgan Stanley Upgrade
Shares of e-commerce marketplace, Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) gained sharply on Thursday after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to a “buy”, citing turnaround in North American region due to the introduction of the deal bank. Besides, in the research report, Morgan Stanley’s equity analyst, Scott Devitt also said that Groupon’s growing revenue from mobile business is raising confidence that the company will soon be able to stage a turnaround in other regions such as Europe, The Middle-East and Africa and benefit from sizable market opportunity. So far this year, the Stock has gained 126%.
Facebook Price Target Raised By Stifel
Jordan Rohan and Michael Purcell, Equity research analysts at Stifel raised price target on Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) to $50. The firm reiterated a “buy” rating on the stock. The research report cited Facebook’s unexpected growth in the recent past, which breached the earlier price target of $38.01. The analysts expect that the stock’s uptrend will continue as the social networking giant has been consistently beating analysts’ expectation on revenue front even as margins are improving incrementally. Shares of Facebook, however, were nearly flat at $41.31 by mid-day trade on Friday.
Facebook Aims To Make Internet Accessible For Everyone
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of social networking giant Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has one dream; to make internet accessible for those people who cannot afford it. To achieve this goal, Zuckerberg has chosen Samsung Electronics and four more companies. The project dubbed as Internet.org will aim at bringing internet access to next 5 billion people around the world for whom accessing internet is like a luxury. The project will kick start from Wednesday August 21.