There's an awful lot of chatter in the blogoshpere over the last 48 hours discussing the remote possibility that Morgan Stanley would be able to defend the Facebook offering as properly priced. PUHLEASE! In case my readers and subscribers don't recall my many warnings on this company and the hype job put on it by Goldman and Morgan - reference As I Promised Last Year, Facebook Is Being Proven To Be Overhyped and Overpriced! [11], let's run through a quick refresher course.
As is often said, a picture is worth more than 982 words...
Keep in mind that a deluge of supply (in terms of common shares) is about to hit the market which should do wonders for this extremely richly valued price. So, the question remains, "Is Facebook Yet a 'Buy' (in Sell Side Wall Street huckster parlance)?" Well, the sell side seems to believe so. Check this out...
6 Buys, 3 Neutrals
Average Price Target = $39
BofA/Merrill – Neutral - $38 PT
Goldman Sachs – Buy - $42 PT
Oppenheimer – Outperform - $41 PT
JPMorgan – Overweight - $45 PT
Piper Jaffray – Overweight - $41 PT
Wells Fargo – Outperform - $37-$40 Range
Credit Suisse – Neutral - $34 PT
Citigroup – Neutral - $35 PT
Morgan Stanley – Overweight - $38
The specific, numerical, actionable answer from my team is the purview of paying subscribes [12] only, but we can always throw some common sense on the topic for free - as per pages 6 and 7 of our March Facebook valuation report -
FB IPO Analysis & Valuation Note - update with per share valuation (317.36 kB 2012-05-21 09:43:30) [13], pages 6, 7 and 10.
Of course Facebook enthusiasm was burning hot. The coals in the "investor" (and I put this lightly) fire are being stoked by none other than the sell side agents doing God's work, among others. It appears as if those who stoked said coals may be making another run at it. Well, it's just a simple as this. Who are you going to believe, the sell side hype machine or your lyin' eyes (AKA, BoomBustBlog performance and accuracy)? Reference Did Reggie Middleton, a Blogger at BoomBustBlog, Best Wall Streets Best of the Best? [14]
Professional and institutional BoomBustBlog subscribers have access to a simplified unlocked version of the valuation model used for our Facebook analysis, available for immediate download - Facebook Valuation Model 08Feb2012 [15]. The full forensic opinion is available to all subscribers here FaceBook IPO & Valuation Note Update. [16] It is recommended that subscribers (click here to subscribe [12]) also review the original analyses (
[17]FB note final [18] 01/11/2011) as well as the following free blog posts on the topic:
- Facebook Registers The WHOLE WORLD! Or At Least They Would Have To In Order To Justify Goldman’s Pricing: Here’s What $2 Billion Or So Worth Of Goldman HNW Clients Probably Wish They Read This Time Last Week! [19]
- Facebook Becomes One Of The Most Highly Valued Media Companies In The World Thanks To Goldman, & Its Still Private! [20]
- Here’s A Look At What The Goldman FaceBook Fund Will Look Like As It Ignores The SEC & Peddles Private Shares To The Public Without Full Disclosure [21]
- The Anatomy Of The Record Bonus Pool As The Foregone Conclusion: We Plug The Numbers From Goldman’s Facebook Fund Marketing Brochure Into Our Models [22]
- Did Goldman Just Rip Its HNW and Institutional Clients Once Again? Facebook Growth Slows Pre-IPO, Just As We Warned! [23]
- The World's First Phenomenally Forensic Facebook Analysis - This Is What You Need Before You Invest, Pt 1 [24]
- The Final Facebook Forensic IPO Analysis: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly [25]