Stock FAQs

why not to buy facebook stock

by Prof. Cassandra Marks Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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Facebook is "bad for democracy" This issue is the most controversial one facing the company, and if you have ethical reasons for not owning Facebook, that's a fine reason to take a pass on the tech stock as investors should feel comfortable supporting the businesses they're invested in.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB), formerly known as Facebook, has suffered significant losses in the 2022 tech selloff. The company has lost over $500 billion since its rebranding.Mar 9, 2022

Full Answer

Is buying Facebook stock a good idea?

Three Reasons To Buy Facebook Stock

  1. Taking market share from Google Google is a powerful company. But Facebook is taking market share in the rapidly-growing mobile ad market. ...
  2. Adding users on new platforms Facebook has made a series of what look like absurdly expensive acquisitions. ...
  3. Stock is cheap at a P/E of 104

How can I buy Facebook stock without a broker?

Just follow these five easy steps:

  • find a broker
  • open your account
  • fund the account
  • buy the share
  • review your position

How can I invest in Facebook stock?

The 10-K can help you understand a lot about the company:

  • how it makes money and how much
  • its assets and liabilities
  • its profitability trend over time
  • the competitive landscape
  • the various risks faced by the business
  • the management team and how they’re incentivized

Should you buy Facebook (FB) ahead of earnings?

Given that FB has a Zacks Rank #3 and an ESP in positive territory, investors might want to consider this stock ahead of earnings. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here .

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Is FB stock a good buy now?

FB is trading near all-time lows at 14.4X forward 12-month earnings. This marks 38% value compared to its own five-year median and a 45% discount to its industry. Alongside its valuation, Meta boasts a stellar balance sheet, with no long-term debt and $48 billion in cash and equivalents.

Will FB stock go up?

Algorithm-based forecasting services gave a bullish long-term Meta platforms stock forecast, as of 8 June. Wallet Investor expected the FB future stock price to end up 2022 at $216.180. Looking forward, it anticipated the stock could move to $255.966 by the end of 2023 and hit $335.972 by the end of 2025.

Is Facebook overvalued?

Tesla, Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon stocks are all wildly overvalued, value investor says.

Why is Facebook stock going down?

Shares of the company formerly known as Facebook saw a historic plunge Thursday after the social media giant reported a rare profit decline due to a sharp rise in expenses, shaky ad revenue growth, competition from TikTok and fewer daily U.S. users on its flagship platform.

What will Facebook be worth in 5 years?

According to the latest long-term forecast, Facebook price will hit $250 by the end of 2022 and then $300 by the end of 2023. Facebook will rise to $400 within the year of 2025, $500 in 2026, $600 in 2028, $700 in 2031 and $800 in 2033.

Is Facebook a Buy Sell or Hold?

Out of 34 analysts, 16 (47.06%) are recommending FB as a Strong Buy, 5 (14.71%) are recommending FB as a Buy, 12 (35.29%) are recommending FB as a Hold, 0 (0%) are recommending FB as a Sell, and 1 (2.94%) are recommending FB as a Strong Sell.

Does Facebook pay a dividend?

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) does not pay a dividend.

Is FB stock undervalued?

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB) announced in its Q1 results on April 27 that its daily average users actually increased from the prior quarter. They rose 1.6% from 1.92 billion daily active users (DAU) to 1.96 billion DAUs.

What is the fair value of Facebook stock?

As of today (2022-06-07), Meta Platforms's share price is $195.65. Meta Platforms's Peter Lynch fair value is $330.50. Therefore, Meta Platforms's Price to Peter Lynch Fair Value Ratio for today is 0.59.

Is FB dying?

A decline in the number of daily users As per the reports, the number of users of the Facebook app aged between 13-19 years of age, decreased by 13 per cent since 2019. Moreover, it was projected to drop 45 per cent over the next two years.

Are people leaving Facebook?

Overall, 45 percent of Facebook users in the United States have considered leaving the social network. During the third quarter 2020 survey, it was found that the social network was ranked first among platforms that U.S. users were considering leaving.

Is Apple share a good buy?

Apple stock is not a buy right now but it soon could be. It is in a consolidation pattern but the stock market is unstable now. Keep an eye on the overall stock market.

Competition? What Competition?

Facebook has one of the strongest competitive advantages possible: the network effect. With each person who joins Facebook, those who aren't on the...

Don't Forget About Whatsapp Or Instagram

The advertising spigot has only recently been turned on for Instagram, and we have yet to see how Facebook really plans on monetizing WhatsApp. But...

The Mission Is Bigger Than Facebook.Com...Or Instagram, Or Whatsapp

Companies don't become truly revolutionary unless they have a vision that goes far, far beyond just turning a profit. Officially, "Facebook's missi...

and That Mission Leads to Optionality

Optionality is a term used to explain how a company can explore other areas where it can help the world (and create shareholder value). In short, i...

It Has The Cash to Pursue Such Things

As of June 2017, Facebook had almost $35 billion in cash and equivalents on hand, versus absolutely no long-term debt. Facebook can use that money...

Zuckerberg's Just Getting Started

There aren't many world-beating companies you can invest in that are run by a 33-year-old genius. As long as he doesn't go the Bill Gates route and...

It's Actually Not That Expensive

You could be forgiven for thinking you've missed the train on Facebook stock. It is, after all, up 850% from its 2012 lows. And if you look at most...

How much did Facebook spend on Instagram?

Facebook has shown a propensity to mimic or buy out competitors. In 2012, the company spent $1 billion on Instagram. It made a far less lucrative purchase in 2014, buying the little-known WhatsApp for $19 billion. Those buys made strategic sense. Those apps could have drawn users away from Facebook.

How long did Facebook last in 2018?

It was up to 68 minutes in 2018, according to Statista.com. It is an impressive figure, but there is a point of saturation. Eventually, Facebook will stop adding users and users will stop increasing the time they spend on the sites.

How many people use Facebook in 2018?

That had to happen sooner or later. In 2018, Facebook had about 2.3 billion users worldwide. That’s almost a third of the world’s population, and more than half of those who have internet access.

How much money did Facebook spend on Oculus?

Seemingly every tech giant has been throwing serious money at virtual reality. Facebook's purchase of Oculus went for a reported $2 billion may turn out to be a winner. Or not. Oculus tops a list of the most promising virtual reality initiatives of 2017, according to Datamation.

How much did the NASDAQ lose in the 2007-2008 market crash?

The NASDAQ lost more than 75% of its value during the dot-com crisis, and it is difficult to predict if or when another free fall is coming.

Is Facebook still in its first generation?

Facebook is still in its first generation of users. Google and Apple, two players with longer track records, are challenging Facebook in the app install market. Young Americans use Snapchat and Twitter as frequently as they use Facebook.

Can Facebook buy Snapchat?

Facebook cannot buy all of them, and one of them might catch fire. This is illustrated ed by Snapchat, a company Facebook tried and failed to buy for $3 billion. As of 2018, Snapchat had 188 million users, but that was down a bit from its peak of 191 million and its stock got hit badly for the loss.

The social media company remains a polarizing investment

Leo is a tech and consumer goods specialist who has covered the crossroads of Wall Street and Silicon Valley since 2012. His wheelhouse includes cloud, IoT, analytics, telecom, and gaming related businesses. Follow him on Twitter for more updates!

Key Points

Apple’s iOS update is throttling the growth of Facebook’s ad business.

Stable growth amid platform challenges

Last quarter, Facebook warned that Apple 's ( NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS update, which allowed users to opt out of data tracking features across all apps, could throttle its ad revenue growth in the second half of the year. But despite those challenges, Facebook still grew its ad revenue 33% year-over-year on top of the segment's 22% growth a year earlier.

But Facebook continues to connect people

Facebook's near-term advertising growth could be bumpy, but it's still continuously gaining more users.

An emphasis on the metaverse and bigger buybacks

Instead of focusing too heavily on the ad business' temporary headwinds and controversies, Facebook emphasized the expansion of its metaverse business with new VR headsets, experiences, and upcoming AR devices.

Is Facebook's stock worth buying?

Facebook is growing a lot slower than Snap, and it faces many of the same headwinds. However, Facebook's stock didn't crash after its earnings report because it was already trading at much lower valuations than Snap.

What are the advantages of Facebook?

Facebook has one of the strongest competitive advantages possible: the network effect. With each person who joins Facebook, those who aren't on the network have the motivation to sign up. Inherently, that makes sense: who would want to go on the site if none of their friends were there?

Is Brian Stoffel a Fool?

Brian Stoffel has been a Fool since 2008, and a financial journalist for The Motley Fool since 2010. He tends to follow the investment strategies of Fool co-founder David Gardner, looking for the most innovative companies driving positive change for the future. He also mixes in risk-management strategies he's learned from Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Follow @Brian_Stoffel_

What is the impact of FB's current business model?

Leadership in Digital Ad Sales: FB’s current business model has been affected by the various scandals and privacy issues that erupted in 2018, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal, public backlash related to questionable data usage, as well as fake news and the following uncertainty over technology sector’s regulatory environment.

What are Facebook users?

Facebook users are not only individuals, but also institutions, businesses of all sizes and organizations, including workplaces, community centers, schools and even places of worship .

Is Facebook Watch a competitor to YouTube?

In 2017, FB launched its video platform, Facebook Watch, an ambitious company priority, as a rival to YouTube. The company is now offering publishers and other video makers a means to monetize their videos.

Is Facebook a debt?

Because Facebook holds no debt , its strong cash position also enables its executive management to swiftly move the company forward into growth opportunities, both organically and through acquisitions. In 2017, FB launched its video platform, Facebook Watch, an ambitious company priority, as a rival to YouTube.

Is Facebook stock up in 2019?

Since the record Christmas Eve decline in the broader markets, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) stock has staged an impressive comeback and year to date the stock is up almost 30%. When FB reported quarterly results on Jan. 30, it beat the consensus numbers and the stock soared.

Is Facebook Watch monetized?

Many marketers regard content offered on platforms such as Facebook Watch as a powerful means to engage with consumers, provide value, and generate sales leads. FB’s ever-popular offering Instagram is not yet fully monetized and thus has considerable room for growth.

The outage really showed the world how dependent we are on Facebook and its services

In this video, I will be talking about the Facebook ( FB 4.61% ) outage and the whistleblower situation. Facebook and all of its services were down on Monday, October 4, one day after a whistleblower came out and talked about the company's "malpractice." Regardless of all the noise, I still think Facebook is a long-term buy.

Facebook down

Monday, Oct. 4 will be remembered as the day most of our communication services went down. But what happened exactly? Facebook's DNS (domain name system) and other services were down. It appeared that its BGP (border gateway protocol) routes had been withdrawn from the internet.

Still outperforming

In Q2, Facebook reported revenue growth of 56% and earnings-per-share growth of 101% year over year. It also reported that there are 1.9 billion daily active users and 2.9 billion monthly active users.

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Dependence on Ad Revenue

Virtual Reality Unrealized

  • Seemingly every tech giant has been throwing serious money at virtual reality. Meta's purchase of Oculus, which went for a reported $2 billion, may turn out to be a winner. Or not. Oculus tops a list of the most promising virtual reality initiatives of 2017, according to Datamation. The following two are Google and Microsoft. As of late 2018, all are making progress in developing games an…
See more on investopedia.com

Social Media Competition

  • Meta has shown a propensity to mimic or buy out competitors. In 2012, the company spent $1 billion on Instagram. It made a far less lucrative purchase in 2014, buying the little-known WhatsApp for $19 billion. Those buys made strategic sense. Those apps could have drawn users away from Facebook. In the tech sector, however, rival apps come thick and fast. Meta cannot b…
See more on investopedia.com

Market Risks

  • Of course, the biggest risk to any stock is probably systematic, not specific. There is not much any company could have done in the buildup to the 2007-2008 stock market crash, especially one tied to housing or finance. The Nasdaqlost more than 75% of its value during the dot-com crisis, and it is difficult to predict if or when another free fall is coming.
See more on investopedia.com

Regulatory Risk

  • There is also the chance of regulatory risk. Facebook uses what is still a relatively new technology, and social media is a relatively unregulated market. Since American industries tend to become more regulatedover time, it seems likely Uncle Sam will increasingly have his fingerprints on social media companies. Poll any investor and ask if regulat...
See more on investopedia.com

The Bottom Line

  • If the economy suffers or if funding dries up for new startup technologies, the ceiling for FB will almost certainly take a hit. Meta has mimicked the Google model of aggressive integration, but that strategy depends on an active technology sectorwith new ways to reach or add value to consumers. Meta has solid fundamentals and an enviable position in the social media sub-secto…
See more on investopedia.com

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