A recent piece from ABC News entitled a “LinkedIn V. Facebook: Tale of Two IPOs” presented the stark contrasts between the successes that each stock has seen since they went public. The reason the two were so linked is two-fold. Both stocks will be celebrating their IPO anniversary in the coming days, and both are social networking sites. Short of that, there are few similarities between the two especially if you are speaking of their respective stock prices. LinkedIn went public on May 20, 2011 at a price of $45 per share. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) went public on May 18, 2012 at $38. From there, it’s best to let Dickens explain how each company’s stock has fared since then. (With a little help from the charts)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Quite possibly the only thing more frightening than that run-on sentence is the fact that I knew it by memory. What’s ironic is that the same teacher who taught me an economy of words, and disliked a run-on sentence more than anyone, loved “A Tale of Two Cities.” How else would you punctuate that Ms. Mallak?
The best of times, LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD). As mentioned, LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) was offered to the public at $45 and needed only until late March of 2012 for the stock to eclipse the $100 plateau. 14 months later, the stock topped $200. Presently, LinkedIn is trading at 184.40. This is not to say that the ride was always fun for investors but getting there is half the fun, especially when “there” is more than quadruple where you began.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) on the other hand, opened at $38 and closed trading today at $47.07. This ride wasn’t nearly as fun given Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s low point of $17.55.
At the end of the day, the last line of Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” only applies to the pre-IPO investor in LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) (so far)……..”It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
