Three Analyst Upgrades for Facebook So Far

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is surging Wednesday morning after the company’s earnings. While there is some real concern that its payments and fees revenue fell, the big hope here is that Facebook is about to finally get in on the mobile model. It is that mobile trend from all the smartphones that has been a huge gorilla on its back.

So far we have seen three analyst upgrades, as there is a growing endorsement on the social media giant’s shares:

• Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its rating to Buy from Neutral with a $31 price target.
• Citigroup raised its rating to Buy from Neutral.
• Stifel Nicolaus raised its rating to Buy from Hold with a $26 price target.

Here is what Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Facebook’s mobile activity:

What is different for Facebook vs Google or Yahoo, in our view, is that the Facebook user experience, ad formats, and ad pricing may actually be better on mobile devices than on the PC. In our opinion, FB’s early right rail PC ads were lower quality and never optimized the user experience, so the mobile transition could be easier for Facebook. Per FB, mobile users are more engaged with the FB platform than non-mobile with 70% likelihood of using FB on a given day.

Facebook shares up a whopping 22% at $23.80 against a post-IPO range of $17.55 to $45.00.

JON C. OGG