ANALYSTS FOR the three biggest banks that helped underwrite the much-scrutinised public debut of Facebook expect the stock will rally over the next 12 months.
The start of coverage by JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs yesterday marked the end of a 40-day “quiet period” on views from analysts affiliated with last month’s offering.
The Facebook offering had been widely cited as an event that damaged retail investor confidence in equity markets given its failure to “pop”. While bullish outlooks are to be expected from Wall Street analysts, their views will be tested when the social networking site releases it first quarterly earnings in the coming weeks.
Since touching an intraday peak of $45 the day it listed in May, Facebook shares have fallen as low as $25.52, and were at $32.72 in midday trading yesterday.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012
