Tag: Facebook Inc. (FB)

Facebook - Another PR Disaster

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Another Public Relations Disaster

The recent internal allegation against Facebook (FB) is not the company’s first public relations debacle, nor will it be the last. Facebook has a long history of public relations fiascos with Cambridge Analytica, widespread advertising boycott, various data breaches, and the most recent issues exposing internal memos that allege the company put profits before safety on its platforms. The stock has been battered and bruised, falling from $384 to $325 after these bombshell allegations and testimony on capital hill. The stock is now down 15% from its 52-week high heading into earnings. This double-digit decline places Facebook in inexpensive valuation territory relative to its technology peers, one of the cheapest high-growth stocks. Let’s not be remiss here and acknowledge the fact that these public relations issues can linger for long periods, and the regulatory implications may be significant. However, Facebook’s valuation is very appealing at this juncture.

Social Media Goliath

Facebook continues to demonstrate its ever-expanding and massive moat in the social media space. Facebook’s core social media platform, in combination with its other properties such as Instagram and WhatsApp, continues to grow while expanding margins and unlocking revenue verticals. Despite being faced with several public relations challenges over the past couple of years (i.e., Cambridge Analytica, coordinated boycotts, government inquiries into privacy, jumbled earnings calls, anti-competitive testimonies, and the recent internal release of sensitive information suggesting profits supersede safety), Facebook has triumphed to all-times after each event. Facebook had to contend with scaled back advertising spending amid the COVID-19 pandemic in conjunction with the public relations issues. Facebook continues to grow across all business segments, with its user base continuing to expand slowly. Facebook’s moat is undeniable, and any meaningful sell-off like the recent public relations-induced weakness could provide an entry point for the long-term investor. The stock is off 15% from its all-time highs, and the stock is inexpensive relative to its technology cohort. Continue reading "Facebook - Another PR Disaster" →

Facebook Is Inexpensive

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Facebook (FB) continues to demonstrate its ever-expanding and massive moat in the social media space. Facebook’s core social media platform, in combination with its other properties such as Instagram and WhatsApp, continue to grow while expanding margins and unlocking revenue verticals. Despite being faced with several public relations challenges over the past couple of years (i.e., Cambridge Analytica, coordinated boycotts, government inquiries into privacy, jumbled earnings calls, and anti-competitive testimonies), Facebook has triumphed to all-times as of late. Facebook had to contend with scaled back advertising spending amid the COVID-19 pandemic in conjunction with the public relation issues. Facebook continues to grow across all business segments, with its user base continuing to expand slowly. Facebook’s moat is undeniable, and any meaningful sell-off like the recent Fed-induced systemic weakness could provide an entry point for the long-term investor. Although near all-time highs, Facebook is inexpensive relative to its technology cohort.

Advertising Boycotts Falter

Facebook faced a very public onslaught of companies joining an advertising boycott across its social media platforms. However, its latest earnings reports suggest that this effort may have been largely symbolic and effectively inconsequential to its revenue and growth numbers. The advertising boycott had grown to roughly a thousand groups and multinational companies. This presented a unique challenge in which the company remediated and diverted more spending to compliance/security aspects which had already swelled post-Cambridge Analytica, and other platform vulnerabilities were exposed. The magnitude of this boycott seems to have been an inconsequential influence on the stock price. This public relations challenge was managed and posed minimal risk to the company’s valuation moving forward. Continue reading "Facebook Is Inexpensive" →

Facebook's Moat Undeniable

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Facebook (FB) is fresh off a strong earnings report, which underscores its massive moat in the social media space. Facebook has faced several public relations challenges over the past couple of years (i.e., Cambridge Analytica, coordinated boycotts, government inquiries into privacy, jumbled earnings calls, and anti-competitive testimonies). Exacerbating these public relation issues has been the COVID-19 backdrop, both domestically and abroad. As companies scale back advertising spending amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook continues to grow across all business segments, with its user base continuing to expand slowly. Facebook’s moat is undeniable, and any meaningful sell-off could provide an entry point for the long-term investor.

Recent Advertising Boycotts

Facebook faced a very public onslaught of companies joining an advertising boycott across its social media platforms. However, its latest earnings suggest that this effort may have been largely symbolic and virtually inconsequential to its revenue and growth numbers. The advertising boycott had grown to roughly a thousand groups and multinational companies. This presented a unique challenge that still has the potential to weigh heavier on the company since this boycott will directly impact revenue as overall compliance/security expenses swell. The magnitude of this boycott may inevitably influence the stock price if this movement expands in sheer numbers and duration. However, as advertising spending is abandoned indefinitely until further notice due to this boycott and overall spend slows due to COVID-19, this culmination could cast uncertainty around its stock valuation. Continue reading "Facebook's Moat Undeniable" →

Facebook Advertising Boycott?

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Facebook Inc. (FB) faced a very public onslaught of companies joining an advertising boycott across its social media platforms. However, its latest earnings suggest that this effort may have been largely symbolic and effectively inconsequential to the company’s revenue and growth numbers. The advertising boycott had grown to roughly a thousand groups and multinational companies. This presented a unique challenge that still has the potential to weigh heavier on the company since this boycott will directly impact revenue as overall compliance/security expenses swell. The magnitude of this boycott may inevitably influence the stock price if this movement expands in sheer numbers and duration. If Facebook can appease advertisers in a timely fashion, then this may be a temporary challenge as these companies rejoin the social media platforms. However, as advertising spending is abandoned indefinitely until further notice due to this boycott and overall spend slows due to COVID-19, this culmination could cast uncertainty around its stock valuation. Even though over 1,000-plus brands have fled its platforms, Facebook has an advertising moat. The breadth and depth of its advertising partners go far beyond this collection of ~1,000 groups and companies, which translates into only X% while the company still grew its revenue by 11% in Q2.

Q2 Earnings and 11% Revenue Growth

Facebook’s earnings for Q2 blew out expectations for both earnings and revenue with $1.80 vs. $1.39 expected and $18.7 billion vs. $17.4 billion expected, respectively. Daily active users were 1.79 billion vs. 1.70 billion expected, monthly active users came in at 2.7 billion vs. 2.6 billion expected, and average revenue per user came in at $7.05 vs. $6.76 expected.

These are blow out numbers across the board, and as expected, Facebook said that its user growth reflects increased engagement from consumers who are spending more time at home. Facebook has 3.14 billion monthly users across its platforms (Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp), compared to 2.99 billion in the previous quarter. The company forecast revenue growth for the third quarter of about 10%, beating analysts’ expectations for growth of 7.9% (Figure 1).

Better yet, Facebook said that through the first three weeks of July, its year-over-year revenue growth was about 10%. This forecast, while topping projections, takes into account ongoing headwinds, including economic volatility, the ad boycott, regulations around ad targeting and Apple’s upcoming iOS 14 operating system. Continue reading "Facebook Advertising Boycott?" →

Facebook Boycott: Here We Go Again

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

If the Cambridge Analytica fiasco, one mishandled public relations incident after another and numerous earnings calls that went down as some of the biggest blunders in history wasn’t enough, now enter an international advertising boycott. Here we go again, Facebook (FB) investors have been through a lot over the past two years. Now another challenge is confronting the company via an advertising boycott that’s growing into the hundreds of multinational companies. This challenge may weigh heavier on the company since this boycott will directly impact revenue as expenses swell. The magnitude of this boycott will inevitably influence the stock price as this movement grows in numbers and duration. If Facebook can appease advertisers in a timely fashion, then this may be a temporary challenge. However, as advertising spending is abandoned indefinitely due to this boycott and overall spend slows due to COVID-19, this culmination could cast uncertainty around its stock valuation. Thus far, over 400-plus brands have fled Facebook.

Boycott Growing In Numbers and Duration

International household names such as Adidas, Best Buy (BBY), Clorox (CLX), Ford (F), HP (HPQ), Starbucks (SBUX), Coca-Cola (KO), and Verizon (VZ) have joined the advertising boycott across Facebook and its platforms. Companies are jumping on the bandwagon daily, including a significant recent addition of Microsoft (MSFT). Total advertisers that have abandoned Facebook and its Instagram properties have now ballooned to over 400 organizations. With an undefined timeframe of how long these advertisers will stay away from Facebook may dampen revenue expectations. Another complexity that may arise is the ability to appease the collective group of advertisers in order to bring all of these companies back to the platform. Continue reading "Facebook Boycott: Here We Go Again" →