Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares saw a significant rise in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, short interest totaled 43,824,108 shares, which was an increase of 15.1% from the October 15th total of 38,065,051. Of the total float, around 2.1% of shares were sold short.
Analyst ratings on Facebook (FB)
In a separate development, CTO Michael Todd Schroepfer sold 35,000 shares of Facebook in an open transaction on November 3rd. Schroepfer sold shares at an average price of $75.50, totaling to $2,642,500, according to a legal filing with the SEC.
A number of analysts have assigned ratings to the stock recently. Morgan Stanley analysts initiated coverage on Facebook with a research note to investors on November 3rd and assigned an Overweight rating to the stock. Zacks analysts lowered their rating on the stock from Outperform to Neutral in a research note on October 31st, and assigned it a price target of $78.00. Finally, analysts at Tigress Financial assigned the firm a Neutral rating, a downgrade from the previous rating of Buy, in a research note to the investors on October 31st. Overall, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $85.61.
On an average, analysts are expecting the world’s largest social networking site to post earnings per share of $1.69 for the full year.
Greater than expected currency headwinds
For its fourth-quarter guidance, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has already factored forex headwinds, but Nomura expects even bigger headwinds for the April-December period of 2015. Between July-September, the euro is already down by 7%. However, in the third-quarter, European currency did not have a big impact on the numbers as the majority of the decline in euro took place at the end of the quarter.
Facebook, unlike other big tech firms, does not have a forex hedging program. Nomura’s fourth-quarter revenue estimate for the social networker are in-line with the consensus, but it has lowered revenue and EBITDA estimates for 2015. Now, the research firm expects the company to post $17 billion in revenue for 2015, compared to the earlier estimate of $17.13 billion. EBITDA for Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is now expected to come in at $10.16 billion, compared to $10.23 billion earlier.
On Tuesday, shares of the social networker closed down 0.52% at $74.61. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has a 52-week low of $43.55 and a 52-week high of $81.16.
