Two Facebook Analyst Downgrades, Bleeding Over to LinkedIn

Now we have two more analyst downgrades adding pressure to Facebook shares. What is interesting is not just the 2.8% drop this Tuesday. What is interesting is that the shares broke under the 2012 close out price of $28.00 and are now trading down around $27.50 in normal trading volume.

Facebook shares were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein. Then another firm named BTIG downgraded the social media giant from an already-cautious Neutral rating down to a “Sell” rating due to slowing user engagement trends. It was just recently, yet still after earnings, that Barron’s drilled Facebook. When the stock was still above $30, Barron’s said that perhaps it was far too bearish when the publication said that Facebook is not really worth a peak of $15.00 for its stock. It said that it should now just be worth no more than $25.00 per share.

Not all social media players are equal. LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) just hit an all-time on Friday and Monday and now shares are around $155 after taking a very small breather. LinkedIn is worth some $16.7 billion, while Facebook is worth some $65 billion or so.