Tag: Facebook Inc. (FB)

Facebook Remains Compelling

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Facebook (FB) tanked after announcing its recent quarterly earnings despite beating on both the top and bottom-line numbers. In addition to the strong revenue and income figures, user growth across its platform grew by a robust clip and the company authorized an additional $10 billion for its share repurchase program. The culprit was a sharp rise in spending and expenses to contend with a slew of regulatory, user and legal battles the company is waging on the privacy front. This minor sell-off provides investors with a buying opportunity in top tier large-cap company that continues to grow double digits with a long runway for further growth and monetization of its platforms.

Trillion Dollar Market Capitalization

Recently, Google (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Apple (AAPL) have all crossed the psychological threshold of the $1 trillion market capitalization valuation. This is the exclusive Wall Street club of only the select few. Facebook is the next potential company to be crowned a 1 trillion-dollar company and join the prestigious Wall Street club (Figure 1). Facebook’s current market capitalization sits at $611 billion, implying a $389 billion market capitalization gap. Facebook needs to appreciate roughly 64% from these levels to joins the likes of Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

Facebook
Figure 1 – The $1 trillion market cap landscape back in August 2019 with Facebook in close pursuit and even closer to achieving the mark

Facebook’s Unparalleled Growth

Facebook is now testing its all-time highs with a reasonable price-to-earnings multiple when compared to its tech cohort. Facebook continues to post unparalleled growth Continue reading "Facebook Remains Compelling" →

Libra - Facebook's Cryptocurrency Implications

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Facebook Inc. (FB) is making a bold move that stands to have vast implications across its business model and its user base via launching its cryptocurrency called Libra. Cryptocurrencies are still in a nascent stage in terms of adoption, acceptance, application, and full understanding of these virtual coins. The cryptocurrency market thus far has been speculative, volatile, and met with skepticism from users and governments alike. Despite the tumultuous albeit short history of cryptocurrencies, these alternative forms of currency have vast implications. These implications include potential disruption of central banks, destabilizing government-backed currencies, reshaping the financial transactions space (i.e., banks and credit cards) while displacing central database infrastructures via blockchain (i.e., banks, clearinghouses, credit card networks). Facebook’s Libra stands to address the unbanked (those without traditional bank accounts) segment of its user base in a major way. The President and Jerome Powell, along with many others in government have either voiced concerns or publically made clear that they’re not embracing this move by Facebook. Government officials are concerned about appropriate regulatory framework being in place considering the company’s past privacy scandals. Nonetheless, will this cryptocurrency bode well for Facebook moving forward?

What is Libra?

Libra will be dissimilar from Bitcoin in its underpinning blockchain technology and mining. Libra will not run on a decentralized disturbed blockchain ledger, and no mining of any additional coins will occur. The blockchain is permissioned and will be managed by the Libra Association, which is a membership organization that consists of 27 payment, technology, telecommunication, online marketplace, venture capital, and non-profits. Libra is planned to be launched sometime next year 2020. Libra will allegedly be backed by financial assets such as a basket of currencies and US Treasuries to circumvent volatility. Unlike Bitcoin, which isn’t backed by anything and can highly volatile, Libra’s value should be anchored and less variable. Each member of the Libra Association will add $10 million, so the cryptocurrency has full asset backing. The supply of Libra will expand and contract based on demand; if demand is high, then the association will purchase more of the underlying assets and create new Libra. If users want to cash out of the cryptocurrency, the association will pay them and destroy the equivalent amount of Libra. Continue reading "Libra - Facebook's Cryptocurrency Implications" →