This morning, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) broke another record; its stock passed the $72 mark. That is a 0.6% move upward before comfortably settling in at the $72 level. That is a far cry from its $18 per share debut, when it filed its IPO back in 2012.
So, what is the root of the upward tick? Well, as a whole the markets have all risen today. However, that does not cover the entire story. Recently, UBS raised its price target for Facebook to $90. Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) also received positive news when MKM Partners gave it a buy rating, in addition to a price target of $72 per share. This gave Twitter a 0.62% gain. However, Twitter’s ad rates fell by 18% in the fourth quarter of 2013, although revenues are up.
Since Facebook’s IPO, its stock has risen 100%. This means that analysts approve of Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp; otherwise, they wouldn’t have increased their price targets. To garner success, in the tech world, a company needs to be flexible and persist in making changes to meet consumer demand. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has proven he has the wherewithal to make those needed modifications.
When Facebook first emerged, it was a media and investor darling. Then, it got stagnant in the PC world, and users started dropping the platform for others such as Twitter, for example. However, Facebook saw the writing on the wall and made moves to counter the negative publicity by investing in the mobile world. As a result, Facebook is back at the top of the tech list with a positive outlook for the future.
Given that Zuckerberg is still under 40; it can be assumed that he still has a lot to give to his company, as well as the world. He is not only focused on Facebook, but also on helping to bring low-cost Internet to third world countries. Although, there may be some self-interest involved, as well.
