Tag Archives: stock price

Apple on the Rise — Again

9 Aug

Apple is currently number three on the U.S. Fortune 500 list. It is on the rise again after some mixed results. According to Fortune:

“After more than a decade of solid growth fueled first by the iPod music player and then by the even more popular iPhone, Apple finally appeared to hit a wall, with lackluster sales — relatively speaking — for other products such as the iPad and Apple Watch and a heavy reliance on upgraded phone models. But the most profitable publicly-traded company in the world is investing heavily in software and its efforts in new areas of opportunity, including automobiles, remain in development (and under wraps). Apple was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Cupertino, Calif.”

 

The following chart from NASDAQ shows the ups and downs of Apple’s stock price over the past five years. Click the image for an INTERACTIVE, REAL-TIME view of Apple’s stock price.

 

The Fortune video below provides a provocative view of Apple’s prospects in the future. What do YOU think?

 

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Is the Stock Market Over-Exuberant for Snap?

3 Mar

Snap Inc. is a U.S.-based technology and social media company that was started in 2011 .Products include the popular Snapchat app and Spectacles eye wear; it also owns the Bitmoji app.

Yesterday (March 2, 2017) was a big day for Snap Inc. and the tech industry overall because of Snap’s highly anticipated IPO (initial public offering) on the New York Stock Exchange. Some analysts are excited at the popularity of this IPO; others wonder whether investors are being overly exuberant. What do YOU think?

As reported by CNBC:

“Snap soared as much as 45% when it opened for trading at $24 a share on Thursday. Market makers at the New York Stock Exchange indicated the stock was set to open from $23.50 to $24.50 a share. At 200 million shares, Snap raised $3.4 billion and was valued at nearly $24 billion as of its pricing. Sources had told CNBC earlier this week that investors were expecting a pricing of $17 to $18 per share, above the $14 to $16 per share range originally given by the company. The IPO is 12 times oversubscribed, sources said Thursday morning, meaning that there were 12 times more orders for than there were shares offered. Some managers told CNBC they got as little as 2 percent of what they were asking for.”

 

Yet, Felix Richter commented thusly for Statista:

“Snap’s IPO valuation of $24 billion is quite a tall order for a company that has never turned a profit and warned investors that it never might. The company is now valued at 59 times its total revenue for 2016. Even for a fast-growing tech company that is a lot. Facebook in comparison has a price-to-sales ratio of around 14. As our chart illustrates, Snap is valued considerably higher than many American household names. That includes companies such as Ralph Lauren and Harley-Davidson that have been around for decades and probably will be for decades to come.”

Infographic: Snap Is More Valuable Than These Household Names | Statista You will find more statistics at Statista

 

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What Now for Facebook?

16 Aug

I hate to keep piling on (see, for example: http://evansonmarketing.com/2012/07/28/the-weak-financial-performance-of-social-media-no-surprise), but today’s Facebook news continues to be a downer. Now, that many previously-restricted shares are eligible to be sold (with the resale of even more shares to be unrestricted in coming months), the stock price remains vulnerable. Earlier today, the share price dropped to $19.69 (from its $38 opening).

A LOT of ad and other revenue growth will be necessary to move Facebook’s financials forward.

What do you marketers suggest that Facebook do to turn around its short-run and long-run revenue and profit prospects?

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The Weak Financial Performance of Social Media: No Surprise

28 Jul

On May 18, I wrote: “How can a company with SALES of  $3.7 billion in 2011 and projected annual sales of less than $20 billion as of 2016 be valued higher than Disney? Higher than McDonald’s? Higher than UPS? Higher than American Express?”

Thus, it comes as no surprise that after announcing the 1st quarter of financial results since its IPO that Facebook’s stock price fell to $23.70 as of the market close on July 28 — off a whopping 37.6 percent from the $38 dollar offering price. So, the question remains: What’s ahead for social media as a BUSINESS?

Many online firms that sell stuff — such as Amazon (even with its low earnings report) and eBay (which has strongly bounced back) — have well-conceived business models based on substantial revenues. The key for them is efficiency and cost controls.

But social media are a whole different ball game. Yes, Facebook and other social media sites are phenomenally popular. Who can argue that nearly a billion followers is not a huge number? Nonetheless, popularity and revenue are not the same thing. Even the most optimistic forecasts about Facebook’s revenues are quite low — and do not justify even a $23.70 price (in my view). And consider this quote from the Los Angeles Times: “Facebook will free up nearly 1.7 billion shares — four times the number now trading — starting next month as provisions that barred employees from selling their holdings begin to expire.” Where will that drive the share price?”

And let’s keep in mind that many legal battles lie ahead for social media regarding the privacy aspects of their drive to generate advertising revenues.

Click the photo of Mark Zuckerberg for a New York Times‘ article that discusses whether “Another couple of days like this and the great tech bubble of 2012 might recede into history.”
 

Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News

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