Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), despite investors’ heavy reservations about their business models earlier in the year, have managed to outperform a struggling stock market, along with a few other strong stocks, reports Harry Boxer for Forbes.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is up more than a dollar, passing $50 and approaching its highest post-IPO price. Boxer expects the stock to keep moving up, hitting 54 in the near-term and eventually reaching 61. Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is up for ten straight days, currently up more than 4 percent today at $3.76.
It seems reasonable that both stocks continue to perform as the market experiences an overall downward correction, because the strong sentiment that pushed other stocks past reasonable valuations over the summer mostly passed them by. The S&P 500 as a whole benefited from overall optimism about the U.S. economy, while Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) have had to work to increase their stock prices all year.
Zynga has dominated social games on Facebook
Facebook is almost synonymous with social media, and Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has dominated social games on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), but neither has been able to translate that success to comparably strong positions in the smartphone market. Facebook has tried to push the home page version of its app, but most people have found it to be cumbersome, so it hasn’t gained traction. Facebook mobile advertising, on the other hand, has started to bring in revenue and build investor confidence.
Zynga is trying to get away from its roots on Facebook
[drizzle]Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), best known for Words with Friends and Candy Crush, is trying to get away from its roots on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), (and trying to split the two companies’ images in people’s minds) to develop more games specifically for smartphones.
In both cases, trying to port a PC experience directly to smartphones didn’t work, giving smaller rivals time to steal market shares. Now that the two tech companies are changing course, most investors have faith that they will manage the transition reasonably well. Some analysts are still bearish on the stocks, but not because they doubt the two companies’ long-term health.
Boxer also picked Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Pacific Biosciences of California, SunEdison, and Uni-Pixel as outperforming stocks that investors would do well to keep an eye on.
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