Interest around the listing on the stock exchange of Facebook exceeds expectations, given that it comes mostly from people who have never purchased a share. Do they properly assess the community of almost one billion people at a value and potential business or we are dealing here with a passing fashion? “Participation in an IPO (Initial Public Offering) as a tender, each hoping to win easily and quickly, but if you buy a share now for $34 – $38, will it double in a year or two?”, analysts are wondering at Admiral Markets, a company licensed in the European Union to carry out investment and brokerage activities in global financial markets. According to them, “whenever profits and sales will slow, and the company shows no records that they are able to attract enough advertising, the share price will fall.”
In short, Facebook sells online advertising, but it isn’t a company with no income and no hope of profit. Facebook has clients, advertising and gaming companies paying to “connect” with over 900 million people. In the developed countries it is spent annually on advertising between 2.1 and 2.3% of GDP. This is what Zuckerberg struggles for, a share of this huge amount of money, but the question is how much money will attract and what will be the cost? Over 50% of revenue will come from outside the United States, just as for Google. According to audit companies, in 2011 $275 billion was spent on advertising in the U.S.. Facebook had revenues of $3.75 billion, of which 85% from advertising, the rest coming from games.
Analysts said investors should not throw themselves into buying in the first days: “if you love the product, it doesn’t mean you will love the shares, most times the first day of trading is disappointing and it doesn’t reflect the progress for the next years. The fact that the public is hungry to buy can be a sign of disappointment. Smart investors expect stabilization and possibly financial results before making a decision. However, it is important to have the option of short selling, it may just prove to be an overvalued idea”.
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