Facebook's stock fell 8.5 percent during the regular session Thursday, then dropped further in extended trading after the company reported quarterly earnings for the first time as a public company.
The stock has been up on 20 trading days and down on 28 since its initial public offering.
Facebook began trading publicly in mid-May following one of the most anticipated stock offerings in history. The IPO priced at $38, at the top of a projected range that Facebook had already boosted just days earlier.
Although many investors had hoped for a big first-day pop, Facebook's stock opened on May 18 at $42.05 and fluctuated between $45 and $38 throughout the day. It closed barely above its IPO price, at $38.23.
The stock had fallen sharply in the weeks following the IPO, going as low as $25.52.
Investors have been concerned about its ability to keep increasing revenue and make money from its growing mobile audience, though many analysts hold positive long-term opinions.
The company, along with the investment banks that led the IPO, is the subject of dozens of shareholder lawsuits. They allege that analysts at the large underwriting investment banks cut their financial forecasts for Facebook just before the IPO and told only a handful of clients. Facebook and the banks overseeing the IPO insist that nothing about its IPO process was illegal or even out of the ordinary.
Here's how Facebook's stock has traded since the IPO:
— Friday, May 18: Closed at $38.23, up 0.6 percent from IPO price
— Monday, May 21: Closed at $34.03, down 11 percent for the day, down 10 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, May 22: Closed at $31, down 8.9 percent for the day, down 18 percent from IPO price
— Wednesday, May 23: Closed at $32, up 3.2 percent for the day, down 16 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, May 24: Closed at $33.03, up 3.2 percent for the day, down 13 percent from IPO price
— Friday, May 25: Closed at $31.91, down 3.4 percent for the day, down 16 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, May 29: Closed at $28.84, down 9.6 percent for the day, down 24 percent from IPO price
— Wednesday, May 30: Closed at $28.19, down 2.3 percent for the day, down 26 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, May 31: Closed at $29.60, up 5 percent for the day, down 22 percent from IPO price
— Friday, June 1: Closed at $27.72, down 6.4 percent for the day, down 27 percent from IPO price
— Monday, June 4: Closed at $26.90, down 3 percent for the day, down 29 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, June 5: Closed at $25.87, down 3.8 percent for the day, down 32 percent from IPO price
— Wednesday, June 6: Closed at $26.81, up 3.6 percent for the day, down 29 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, June 7: Closed at $26.31, down 1.9 percent for the day, down 31 percent from IPO price
— Friday, June 8: Closed at $27.10, up 3 percent for the day, down 29 percent from IPO price
— Monday, June 11: Closed at $27, down 0.4 percent for the day, down 29 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, June 12: Closed at $27.40, up 1.5 percent for the day, down 28 percent from IPO price
— Wednesday, June 13: Closed at $27.27, down 0.5 percent for the day, down 28 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, June 14: Closed at $28.29, up 3.7 percent for the day, down 26 percent from IPO price
— Friday, June 15: Closed at $30.01, up 6.1 percent for the day, down 21 percent from IPO price
— Monday, June 18: Closed at $31.41, up 4.7 percent for the day, down 17 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, June 19: Closed at $31.91, up 1.6 percent for the day, down 16 percent from IPO price
— Wednesday, June 20: Closed at $31.60, down 1 percent for the day, down 17 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, June 21: Closed at $31.84, up 1 percent for the day, down 16 percent from IPO price
— Friday, June 22: Closed at $33.05, up 3.8 percent for the day, down 14 percent from IPO price
— Monday, June 25: Closed at $32.06, down 3 percent for the day, down 16 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, June 26: Closed at $33.10, up 3.2 percent for the day, down 13 percent from IPO price
— Wednesday, June 27: Closed at $32.23, down 2.6 percent for the day, down 15 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, June 28: Closed at $31.36, down 2.7 percent for the day, down 17 percent from IPO price
— Friday, June 29: Closed at $31.09, down 0.9 percent for the day, down 18 percent from IPO price
— Monday, July 2: Closed at $30.77, down 1 percent for the day, down 18 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, July 3: Closed at $31.20, up 1.4 percent for the day, down 18 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, July 5: Closed at $31.47, up 0.9 percent for the day, down 17 percent from IPO price
— Friday, July 6: Closed at $31.73, up 0.8 percent for the day, down 17 percent from IPO price
— Monday, July 9: Closed at $32.17, up 1.4 percent for the day, down 15 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, July 10: Closed at $31.47, down 2.2 percent for the day, down 17 percent from IPO price
— Wednesday, July 11: Closed at $30.97, down 1.6 percent for the day, down 19 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, July 12: Closed at $30.81, down 0.5 percent for the day, down 19 percent from IPO price
— Friday, July 13: Closed at $30.72, down 0.3 percent for the day, down 19 percent from IPO price
— Monday, July 16: Closed at $28.25, down 8.1 percent for the day, down 26 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, July 17: Closed at $28.09, down 0.6 percent for the day, down 26 percent from IPO price
— Wednesday, July 18: Closed at $29.11, up 3.6 percent for the day, down 23 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, July 19: Closed at $29, down 0.4 percent for the day, down 24 percent from IPO price
— Friday, July 20: Closed at $28.76, down 0.8 percent for the day, down 24 percent from IPO price
— Monday, July 23: Closed at $28.75, down a penny for the day, down 24 percent from IPO price
— Tuesday, July 24: Closed at $28.45, down 1 percent for the day, down 25 percent from IPO price
— Wednesday, July 25: Closed at $29.34, up 3.1 percent for the day, down 23 percent from IPO price
— Thursday, July 26: Closed at 26.84, down 8.5 percent for the day, down 29 percent from IPO price
Thanks for the shout out, @sherylsandberg - very excited to be here at @Yahoo!
— marissamayer (@marissamayer) July 26, 2012
| @ shibanijoshi : Even Facebook can't make an earnings call fun, unfortunately for us... |
Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, from conference call: "Local businesses are not very tech savvy."
— Matthew Keys (@ProducerMatthew) July 26, 2012
Oh God, is Zuck wearing a hoodie?? Twitter is inconclusive... [sigh]
-- Dino Grandoni
Instagram deal still hasn't closed yet. Zuck says no integration until that happens.
This phone-or-no-phone question is interesting and all, but what I find interesting is that Zuckerberg actually answered a question on the call.
-- Mark Gongloff
Zuck's denial of a Facebook Phone contradicts a rumor peddled by Bloomberg News JUST TODAY.
Guy on the Facebook call just pronounced scenario "scen-AHHR-io." He was not British.
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) July 26, 2012
Zuck says it wouldn't make sense to develop a Facebook phone. Take THAT, rumor mill.
-- Catharine Smith
Facebook executives don't give forecast in prepared remarks
— Emily Chang (@emilychangtv) July 26, 2012
Forecasts are something Apple does but Google's doesn't do. So, at least there's precedent in tech for withholding predictions.
Zuck says Facebook is the most-used app on any mobile platform. Too bad it is also one of the most unpleasant apps to use.
-- Catharine Smith
According to Forbes, Zuck's net worth just dropped about $2 billion.
Despite meeting analysts’ expectations and posting profits of $0.12 a share on $1.18 per share in revenue, Facebook was unable to appease the markets, which have been relatively bearish on social media companies this week. On Wednesday, social gaming company Zynga, which missed analysts’ estimates in its second quarter earnings call, watched as its stock fell more than 35% in after hours trading.
Sheryl Sandberg congratulates Marissa Mayer for her new job at Yahoo.
From conference call: Facebook now has just under 4,000 employees, an increase of 50% from last year.
— Matthew Keys (@ProducerMatthew) July 26, 2012
This partially explains the spike in "General & Administrative" spending during this past quarter.
First analyst to say "Great quarter, guys" enters the Analyst Hall of Shame.
Nope, the first question is about monetization and expanded distribution agreements.
So, awesome, then.
Sheryl's ad return detail is good stuff. Don't get that sort of detail from others. $FB
— Peter Eavis (@petereavis) July 26, 2012
Facebook's stock fell 8.5 percent during the regular session Thursday, then dropped further in extended trading after the company reported quarterly earnings for the first time as a public company.
Sandberg says Sponsored Stories and News Feed are going to save Facebook, gives some details on return on ads.
Wahh, replies the stock price, now 11 percent down.
After 10 minutes, she hands the call off to the CFO David Ebersman.
-- Mark Gongloff
Sandberg says Sponsored Stories (i.e. ads) rake in more than $1 million a day, about half of that is from mobile users.
Mark Zuckerberg: People sharing 1 billion piece of content each day using Open Graph
— Matthew Keys (@ProducerMatthew) July 26, 2012
Zuckerberg wraps up by talking about how Facebook just loves itself a good challenge, and it's going to spend lots of money to wrestle that challenge to the ground!
"We're working hard to staff up ... to make progress against these goals."
And with that, the stock, which had rallied a tiny bit on the sweet sound of Zuck's voice, is back down 10 percent.
Sheryl Sandberg has taken over the call now.
-- Mark Gongloff
WSJ is reporting that Facebook had 955 million users in the second quarter. That's up from 739 million in the same time period last year.
Zuck is talking about what a big opportunity mobile is for Facebook. He says mobile users are 20 percent more active than other users.
Now if they can just figure out how to make money on all that activity, they'll be all set.
-- Mark Gongloff
That this is BREAKING NEWS says something about Facebook.
-- Mark Gongloff
Facebook's first public quarter results show signs that it's chasing growth through higher spending: wapo.st/MMgHYr
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 26, 2012
Look at the chart and spike in R&D spending (Facebook Phone?!), from AllThingsD.
Facebook had 3,976 employees at the end of the first half, up 49 percent from a year ago.
Via AllThingsD, here's the slide pack for Facebook's earnings. Enjoy its PowerPointy goodness if you wish, but it does not answer the burning question: Will Zuckerberg be on the call (T-10 minutes)?
External Facebook PR flack from Brunswick just called to make sure I have "everything I need." She also called me "dude." #thanks #dude
— Sam Gustin (@samgustin) July 26, 2012
Facebook now sinking more than 10%, abt to pierce $24. As release hit, up 6%. Classic case of... getting to the end of a press release. $FB
— Kayla Tausche (@kaylatausche) July 26, 2012
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AP | By The Associated Press Posted: 07/26/2012 4:40 pm Updated: 07/26/2012 5:16 pm