Facebook's New Shazam-Like Feature Is Another Step Towards $85
May. 22, 2014 12:07 AM ET | 5 comments | About: Facebook (FB)

Disclosure: I am long FB, GOOG. (More...)
Summary

Facebook’s new update for its Android and iOS app has Shazam-like audio recognition. It can listen and identify the background music/TV show playing when users update status.
It’s great for Facebook’s data mining purposes. It can further improve its targeted ads campaign.
It’s great for Facebook investors. The more specific Facebook’s advertising platform is, the more ad clients will sign up.

I really appreciate the genius of Mark Zuckerberg. The new Shazam-like audio recognition feature that he will implement today on the Android and iOS app of Facebook (FB) is music to my ears. Facebook is the world's smartest mobile
advertising
company. This should help FB inch further towards the $85 price target. The $85 road leads to Quoth s $100 price target too.
More at:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2231943-facebooks-new-shazam-like-feature-is-another-step-towards-85

DELETE DUPLICATE

Almost to the 50 day,
Fletch

Below from Seeking Alpha,
Fletch

SA Market Current
U.S. insurers get indigestion from high drug prices
07:34 AM ET • GILD
Accusing drugmakers of taking advantage of the insurance system, the health insurance trade group AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) states in its Coverage blog that despite the its tremendous benefits, Gilead Sciences (GILD) has priced its HCV drug Sovaldi at an astronomical level ($84,000/regimen) that is not sustainable for consumers, innovation or society. In the first three months after it was commercially available, Sovaldi generated $2B in sales making it the most successful pharmaceutical launch in U.S. history.
AHIP's comments may be tactic to influence AbbVie (ABBV) and Bristo-Myers Squibb (BMY) when they set their prices for their HCV offerings.
Sovaldi does not even make the list of the top ten most expensive drugs, however. The king of the hill is Alexion Pharmaceuticals' (ALXN) Soliris at $410,000.

Comments (5)

thepharmd
May 21 07:49 AM
When it costs (on average $5 billion and 10 years) to bring a drug to market, companies need to make that money back and a profit, or no drugs would be developed. It is the US capitialistic society that gives us the best treatments, and their development, in the world; I hope that does not get hindered. Gilead, and other biotech companies that have high cost drugs, need to perform a pharmacoeconomic study on the long term cost effectiveness of their drugs. With hard evidence that drugs like Sovaldi not only decrease morbidity and mortality, but save money, the price can be justified.

SimonSaysShort
May 21 08:03 AM
That is all fine and good except for the fact that they rest of the world gets the same drugs at lower prices. 84k for a HepC cure is reasonable, but not when you compare it to the $900 that Egypt is getting it for.

Doug Miller
May 21 07:56 AM
Seeking Alpha has the transcript of Gilead's most recent investor conference presentation posted and available to read. (I believe it was a UBS Healthcare conference).
In the conference, Gilead explained that they have priced Sovaldi at a discount to the current cost of a cure. (Forget per pill, or per bottle price. How much does it cost to produce a cure?). They went through the cost of the current drug regimen (which must be maintained over a much longer period) and compared that cost to the cost of a Sovaldi based regimen.

I was also surprised to hear that many folks taking Sovaldi are combining it with interferon (according to Gilead). Sovaldi, by itself, is not sufficient. The folks who are being treated with Sovaldi + Olysio are the ones getting the best treatment. But, it runs around $150K, because Olysio is also quite expensive.

Wait until this fall when Gilead rolls out the single pill cure, which won't require anything else, and will have few side effects. I would expect that will be when the real avalanche of folks, who are not too sick, but would like to be cured, to start lining up for treatment.

The insurers also seem to be making the assumption that the other treatments under development will be at least as good as Gilead's. I have read some things that call that assumption into question. We will have to wait and see.

13302632
May 21 08:01 AM
I've commented several times on this issue, but it bears repeating. Insurance companies are well aware that they will save money in the long run with the current price of the drug, but (shocker) wish to make more profit by pressuring a decrease in its cost. If they are that concerned with costs why don't they cut their profit margins (rhetorical question)? In all seriousness, it is straightforward for insurance companies to finance use of Sovaldi by borrowing against saved future treatment costs. Using this method the current costs are somewhat of a mirage as they will receive (in effect) an annuity from future savings.
And as the gentlemen above commented, if drug development costs are not recovered and a substantial profit generated from such high risk high cost race for a cure, then future cures of other diseases will be substantially delayed.

Steven6
May 21 09:02 AM
Responding to comments: Gilead, and other biotech companies that have high cost drugs, need to perform a pharmacoeconomic study on the long term cost effectiveness of their drugs. With hard evidence that drugs like Sovaldi not only decrease morbidity and mortality, but save money, the price can be justified. YOU CAN FEEL CONFIDENT THAT GILEAD HAS DONE THIS. THAT'S WHY THEY ARE BEING DILIGENT BUT NOT OVER CONCERNED IN HOW THEY ARE RESPONDING TO THE COMPLAINTS. THE FACT THAT VA AND UK'S NHS ARE PAYING FOR A FIRST WAVE OF THE SICKEST HEP C PATIENTS IS ALSO A REFLECTION OF THE EXISTENCE OF STRONG JUSTIFICATION MATERIALS FOR THE PRICE.

In all seriousness, it is straightforward for insurance companies to finance use of Sovaldi by borrowing against saved future treatment costs. NOT TO DEFEND THE SABER-RATTLING OF THE INSURANCE COMPANIES ON SOVALDI'S PRICE, BUT THE HEART OF THE ARGUMENT NEEDS TO STAY ON CURRENT BENEFIT TO THE CONSUMERS THEY INSURE. FUTURE BENEFIT IS LARGELY PAID OUT OF FUTURE PREMIUMS, PLUS PEOPLE/COMPANIES CHANGE INSURERS, SO AN INSURER MAY NOT REAP THE FUTURE BENEFITS OUT OF TODAY'S PAYMENTS.

From Seeking Alpha............................ : > )

Facebook : $85 Price Target Is Becoming More Realistic - Publicis Inks $500 Million Deal
May. 20, 2014 12:05 AM ET | About: Facebook (FB)

Disclosure: I am long FB, GOOG. (More...)
Summary

One of the world’s biggest advertising agencies is following the emerging leader in mobile advertising. Publicis inks $500 deal with Facebook.
This is a strong confirmation that Facebook’s advertising platform is becoming a must-have option for traditional advertising agencies. Digital advertising is shifting towards mobile.
I expect Omnicom, WPP, Dentsu, and other big advertising firms to knock on Facebook’s door for similar big-money advertising partnership deals.

Those who still doubt that Facebook (FB) is making its way towards the $85 price target should think again. The third-biggest advertising firm in the world, Publicis (OTCMKTS:OTCQX:PUBGY), recently inked a advertising tie-up deal with Zuckerberg's hyper-growth company. The deal is worth around $500 million dollars and that's just for North American advertising campaigns.

The pact calls for co-creation of ad products using Facebook's video, images, and data assets. Publicis recently called off its $35 billion merger deal with the second-biggest ad agency, Omnicom, which would have created the world's largest advertising holding company. Antitrust concerns and fight for control caused the mega-merger to collapse.

However, the partnership with mobile advertising dynamo Facebook will give Publicis preferred access to Facebook's core digital advertising assets including Instagram. Publicis' growth gets a boost and FB gets reciprocal benefits. Facebook bears should really understand the big boost that Publicis is giving FB. The French advertising firm generates $7.7 billion in revenues servicing luxury brands like Gucci, Hermes, and LVHM.
What It Means To Investors

Facebook investors who adamantly believe that FB is on its way to $85 should be elated with the Publicis deal. The $500 million deal is strong confirmation of Facebook's growing clout in advertising. Google (GOOG) is still the Alpha dog in digital ad spending with its dominant internet search engine.
More at:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2226883-facebook-85-price-target-is-becoming-more-realistic-publicis-inks-500-million-deal

Below from Seeking Alpha,
Fletch

Google Loses To European Court While Facebook Benefits
May. 18, 2014 10:23 AM ET | 4 comments | About: FB, Includes: GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, MSFT, YHOO

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. (More...)
Summary

Google and other search operators lose a European court ruling.
Higher compliance-related costs will translate into higher cost-per-click rates on search-based ads.
An environment of higher ad-pricing will allow Facebook to price ads more expensively, making the social network a more compelling investment when compared to peers.

Facebook (FB) may have lucked out when Google (GOOG), (GOOGL) and all the other search engine owners got hit with massive regulatory changes in Europe. I'll quote what Bloomberg reported on the topic, so you can get a basic idea on what in the heck's going on:

The European Union's top court yesterday ruled citizens have a "right to be forgotten" online, meaning people may ask search-engine owners to remove personal information and request that a court or data-protection authority step in if a company doesn't comply.

All of that is set to create new headaches for U.S. Web companies, which have businesses based on handling tremendous amounts of data that often aren't touched by humans. The ruling opens the way for European users to flood the firms with Web takedown requests, adding costs and time to what they already do in content removal. Many of the companies already deal with compliance for different data laws in various geographies, subjecting requests to shed content to thorough legal analyses before making the information unavailable.

"It's just such a mind-bogglingly impossible decision," said Fred Cate, distinguished professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

As you can tell, these costs will hit Google, Yahoo! (YHOO), and Bing (MSFT) pretty hard. The question comes down to what extent will costs rise, and how much can be done to mitigate the disadvantageous situation?
Why Facebook seems to have dodged the bullet

As you all know, I'm a huge fan of investing into Facebook. Social networks offer impressive upside potential, as revenue ramp and scalability are mind-bogglingly better when compared to other comparable investment opportunities.

While Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! get shafted by European regulators for privacy-related concerns over web searches, Facebook continues to navigate the regulatory environment with regards to user data intelligently. Facebook doesn't violate privacy, according to VG 24/7:

The suit in question alleges Facebook and Zynga violated privacy by disclosing confidential user information to advertisers and other third parties, and hinges on referrer headers used in Facebook pages. These headers showed user Facebook IDs and previous page viewed, so advertisers (and ad hosts) can determine who clicks on ads, and where they were when they saw the ads.

The court ruled that the referral header information does not constitute the contents of a communication.

Facebook has been able to avoid unfavorable regulatory rulings by offering users adequate privacy controls. Facebook doesn't disclose confidential user information to advertisers or third parties. The two facts are really encouraging.

Facebook's implementation of privacy settings (happened years ago), costs significantly less than the cost of removing web searches to private information. The task of managing privacy options is done by the user, and not by a team of employees at Facebook. This costs Facebook hardly any money, in other words. At the same time, the EU ruling on privacy when it comes to web-based search will require search engine owners to hire a lot of of compliance officers.

I can't quantify the costs that well, to be honest. However, I know that compliance measures can cost in the billions of dollars depending on the circumstance. For example, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) had to increase risk compliance controls as a result of a changing regulatory environment. Approximately $1.5 billion had to be spent on increases in staffing, increasing the headcount in the compliance division by an additional 5,000 employees.

I mention this JPMorgan Chase case study to illustrate regulatory changes can significantly increase costs. Perhaps Google needs a risk-compliance team significantly larger than what's in place. The cost of compliance could easily reach in the billions of dollars, which has been a massive headwind for the company. Google's stock has declined by 14% from its 52-week highs this year.

Source: FreeStockCharts

Google seems to be in a sustained downtrend. Google's exposure to privacy-related regulatory change is large, as the vast majority of the company's revenues come from search-related ads.
What this may mean for Facebook shareholders

At the present, search ads are the biggest competitor to Facebook's newsfeed ads. While both ad formats offer compelling marketing ROI, especially when such advertising is implemented intelligently, it's likely that Google, Bing, and Yahoo! will have to price search-based ads higher on a global basis to offset rising costs from European operations.

The extent to which costs can rise from the implementation of better compliance measures is unknown at the present moment. I couldn't come up with a very good cost estimate even if I wanted to. However, I'm hoping analysts will come armed with many questions on the next earnings conference call. I'll be extremely surprised if the sell-side completely overlooks compliance-related costs as a result of European court rulings on privacy.

(click to enlarge)

Source: Facebook

In Facebook's 2014 fiscal year first quarter, the company had $2.21 in average revenue per user from advertising in its European segment. However, because of recent changes in the regulatory environment, that is heavily unfavorable to search engines, it's likely that Facebook can charge significantly more for its ads, as other competitors in the space will have to offset costs with higher pricing.

Between Q1'13, and Q1'14, Facebook's ad revenue per user increased by 60%. This increase in revenue came from better
advertising strategies
(high click-through rates), higher pricing on pre-existing ads, along with reduced effectiveness of timeline communication from company pages.

Furthermore, better engagement from audiences, along with international user growth will add to Facebook's revenue growth.

Source: Facebook

Facebook can increase its ad pricing even as costs of revenue as a percentage of total revenue trends lower. Data center infrastructure costs have declined considerably over the past five years. Computing power is increasing at a rate that's greater than what Facebook actually demands. Pair that with additional energy savings from more efficient CPUs and hard drives, and it's safe to assume that cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue will continue to decline. Therefore, declining costs paired with higher pricing will boost profits margins going into the next fiscal year.
Conclusion

I think it's safe to assume that search operators like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! will report rising costs due to compliance-related reasons in future quarters. The impact may result in higher pricing on cost-per-click ads in order to offset compliance costs.

Social networks have been able to avoid compliance-related costs when it comes to user privacy. This makes the regulatory environment more favorable to social networks at the present moment. Furthermore, I anticipate that in response to higher ad pricing from search engines, Facebook will raise the price on its social feed ads even as variable costs trend lower. With the combination of higher revenue per user, and falling cost per user, one can easily arrive at the conclusion that investing into the social networking giant makes sense from a momentum standpoint.
Share this article with a colleague
Tweet
About this article
Emailed to: 87,915 people who get FB real-time alerts, 195,144 people who get SA Tech Stock Report daily and 467,047 people who get Investing Ideas daily.
Author payment: $0.01 per page view. Authors of PRO articles receive a minimum guaranteed payment of $150-500.
Become a contributor »
Tagged: Investing Ideas, Long Ideas, Technology, Internet Information Providers
Problem with this article? Please tell us. Disagree with this article? Submit your own.
More articles by Alex Cho »

AT&T's Rumored Acquisition Of DirecTV May Boost Its Valuation To $55 Today
Intel And Nvidia Need To Partner To Conquer Mobile Thu, May 15
Alibaba Shareholders Stripped Of Ownership Interest In Alibaba? Wed, May 14
Internet Is Becoming Safer, Usage Statistics Are Up, Now Is The Time To Capitalize Wed, May 14

Latest on FB

Facebook And Twitter: Which One Should Be In Your Portfolio? Fri, May 16
Facebook Should Not Buy Twitter Fri, May 16
FCC to decide on net neutrality, rules for spectrum auction Thu, May 15
Facebook: A Mobile Company That's Heading To $85 Thu, May 15
Learning From The Facebook IPO Debacle To Invest In Twitter Wed, May 14
Facebook: There's A Zucker Born Every Minute Wed, May 14
Study: Facebook and Twitter usage slips, with Instagram gaining Tue, May 13
Facebook Eyes Beijing Office In Slow Move To China Tue, May 13
Facebook Needs To Grow Penetration And ARPU Substantially To Justify Its Share Price Mon, May 1

Good read........Thanks......this is trading like it's the low life of all biotechs.....
Well above the 50 day at least,
Fletch

Gap left behind this morning and death cross near........,...Let's get above the 50 day,
Fletch

Hey Buddy,
Yes.........been in long enough to be up +25%. Has great fundies with a p/e of under 11! One of those good little companies better small cap value mutual funds own........ LOL,
Fletch

Beat earnings and guided up. Bad news caused the sell off before earnings. The gap isn't good,
Fletch

Below from Seeking Alpha,
Fletch

SA Market Current
Gilead BOD approves share repurchase plan
05:39 PM ET • GILD
Gilead Sciences (GILD +0.6%) authorizes a new $5B share repurchase program. The original $5B plan was announced in January 2011. The ~$2.9B remaining will be spent by September.

Hey Buddy,
I was also a newbie at one time myself.........
Neither of these do I think have much chance of filling.........especially the bigger one,
Fletch

Hey Rollitup,
There are 2 gaps.
1 One at $531.13 - $560.73
2 One at $571.99 - $572.55
Fletch

I don't think so,
Fletch

Thought I'd post a weekly,
Fletch

Gap at $59.85 could get filled this morning. It would be good to fill it as it can hold back price.
Sell in May and go away,
Fletch?

It would be good to get above the 50 day,
Fletch

From Yahoo,
Could Facebook be the Google of mobile Apps?
Mark Zuckerberg is on a roll. A slew of major acquisitions, plans to use drones in the sky to deliver web access, and a streak of earnings beats have investors buying into his vision of the social web. At Facebook’s (FB) developer conference earlier this week, dubbed ”F8,” Zuckerberg showed the company hasn’t taken its eye off the ball.

In addition to revealing it’s much discussed mobile ad-network, and functionality like anonymous login for 3rd party apps, one of the biggest things revealed that has commentators buzzing is something Facebook is calling “App Links.” App links would allow apps to talk to each other, allowing users to go from app to app and back to the original app they were in virtually seamlessly.

As my Yahoo Finance colleague Phil Pearlman puts it, Facebook isn’t just building things for its platform, it’s building tools for the mobile web, which in the end could lead to the holy grail – discoverability and search among the world of mobile apps. Just as Google (GOOGL) dominates the web, Facebook appears to have its sights set on owning mobile across all platforms.

Eric Jackson of IronFire Capital has been watching the company very closely. Although he’s a bit cautious of the company at these levels, in the attached video he reveals even he was caught off guard at how quickly Zuckerberg was able to pivot Facebook into mobile. “I certainly didn’t see this coming two years ago, just how quickly they’ve moved to mobile, how their service has just been welcomed with open arms by the masses everywhere around the globe.”

In addition to being aggressive with acquisitions like Instagram and What’s App (and paying for them mostly in stock and not cash), Jackson respects how Zuckerberg is looking at new platforms, thus revealing how Facebook execs know the Facebook as we know it may not last forever. It’s this kind of forward thinking that has Facebook bulls betting on the company’s future.

One red flag for Jackson is the fact that Facebook doesn’t reveal what percentage of its ads are coming from app install ads. What these ads are trying to do is “to get you click here to download this thing off of the app store… This is where they’re printing money today,” Jackson says. The app developers are buying a ton a Facebook mobile ads fueled by VC money, and Jackson is afraid the “VC gravy train” of funding will dry up at some point, hitting Facebook’s bottom line in the process.

The market......generally will pay up for good potential growth......like for FB. I'm not sure if AAPL or GOOG from 2006 (when I bought them) always had the fundies.... they do now. I'm also sure that on a dip, someone short could have told me what a fool I am.........for still holding them.
I have no grudge or issue with you but people who short......generally are of the negative type. They are hoping for BAD news. Like wish the Russians invade......er a maybe a dirty bomb can go off in NYC!
Shorts.......not my cup of tea,
Fletch

Hey buddy,
You bought the gap fill!!........it was a cloud over FB.......that's now lifted.
Congrats,
Fletch

For board info..........................
Below from Morningstar,
Fletch

Short Interest FB
Shares Outstanding 2,549.74 Mil
Float 1,971.16 Mil
Shares Short (as of 04/15/2014) 45.44 Mil
Short % of Float 2.31%
Short Ratio 1.00
Shares Short Chg. (from 03/31/2014) 10.37%

Key Stats FB

Price/Earnings 97.1

Price/Book 9.5

Falling for now........will the support hold?
Only time will tell,
Fletch

A gap that may not be filled.......any time soon,
Fletch

Baidu boosted by sell-side after earnings
Yesterday 11:09 AM ET • BIDU
"Despite a purported heavy investment plan for the rest of FY14, we believe the market has underestimated Baidu's (BIDU +1.2%) viability and is overly conservative on its growth /earnings outlook," says Deutsche's Alan Hellawell III, upgrading the stock to Buy with price target lifted to $229 from $178. "We believe it is unjustified for BIDU to trade at a significant discount vs. [peers] amid steadily improving fundamentals."
Reiterating its Buy rating, Goldman lifts the price target to $225 from $215.
Previous earnings coverage

Worth the time to read,
Fletch

How The Little Guy Got A Fairer Chance To Profit In Stocks
Investor's Business Daily
16 hours ago

On April 9, 1984, the first day of publication for Investor's Daily, the New York Stock Exchange traded 55.1 million shares. Chrysler was the most active issue, up 1-1/2 points to 24 on 1.27 million shares.

Today the NYSE might trade more than 800 million shares on a given day, with an additional 2 billion on the Nasdaq. Stock prices are quoted in decimals rather than fractions, and Facebook (FB), whose CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, wouldn't be born for another month, averages nearly 62 million shares a day.

To paraphrase a 1980s TV ad, it's not your father's stock market.

The market's changes over the past three decades are profound and mostly good. Competition, technology, regulation, deregulation and innovation have combined to level the playing field for the individual investor, giving him or her tools only professionals in Manhattan skyscrapers once had.

In 1984, if you wanted to check your stocks, you called your broker or waited for the next morning's newspaper. Now you have access to real-time news, quotes and streaming charts on your cellphone, often for free. You can get alerts and make trades while waiting for the bus.

The increase in trading volume alone has made the market more liquid. But other changes, many under the hood, so to speak, have made the stock market a better, fairer place. And the market has played a crucial role in economic growth and the development of technology that enriches our lives.

• The rise of the Nasdaq to challenge the NYSE as the pre-eminent exchange was one key development. The over-the-counter market of 30 years ago was the repository of mostly small, newer companies that couldn't meet the NYSE's listing requirements. It was an electronic platform from the beginning.

"From our first day, every other market in the world was floor-based," said John Jacobs, a 31-year Nasdaq veteran. "Today none of them are. Trading across all markets is electronic.

Jacobs recounts how the Nasdaq rode and helped drive two important themes of the past 3 decades: the rise of the IPO and the technology boom. In 1980, there were 71 IPOs that raised less than a billion dollars. IPOs peaked in 1996, with 676 companies raising $42 billion.

Companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) went public on the Nasdaq and never saw a reason to move to the Big Board.

• The first ECN, or electronic communication network, was Instinet, founded in 1969 for institutional investors. ECNs match trades electronically off traditional exchanges and collect a small fee for doing so. They were direct low-cost competition to the Nasdaq and the NYSE, forcing them to handle trades more cheaply and efficiently.

Archipelago was one ECN and is now merged with the NYSE.

• In 1984, specialists handled NYSE trades and market maker transactions on the Nasdaq. They exacted what was called the hidden eighth from each share traded. "In the old days, if you wanted to place an order to buy a Nasdaq stock, your order was not displayed. The market maker could and would trade ahead of you all day long," said Frank Hathaway, Nasdaq's chief economist. "That's now changed. There's an open order book and no preferential treatment.

• In 2001, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered that stocks be priced in decimals rather than fractions, as they had for nearly 200 years. That meant buyers and sellers could find prices between the spread of the bid and asked prices. That brought down trading costs further and forced the exchanges to automate even more.

Hathaway noted that in the 1990s, Waste Management (WM) had a spread of 37.5 cents a share. Today it's a penny. A very active stock might have had a 12-cent spread. Now it's a penny.

• In 1975, the SEC deregulated commissions. A Wall Street firm might have charged you a few hundred dollars to buy 100 General Electric shares. Charles Schwab made trades for $70 and later $12.95. Competition brought commissions below $10.

• In the second half of the 1990s, brokers went online. This meant anybody could be a day trader on a laptop in their bedroom.

There have been other important developments.

• ADRs, or American depositary receipts, go back to 1927, but became big business in the past two decades. They are a way a foreign company can sell shares on a U.S. exchange. U.S. investors can more easily invest in overseas companies, and those firms have access to a vast pool of American capital.

The rapidly modernizing Chinese economy has taken advantage of ADRs. While there have been plenty of accounting scandals, ADRs let U.S. investors take advantage of top growth companies such as Baidu (BIDU) and Sina (SINA).

• In the 1970s, Congress passed laws that paved the way for individual retirement accounts and 401(k)s. That spread stock ownership to more families as mutual fund ownership exploded. In 1984, 4.6 million households, 5.7% of the total, owned a mutual fund. Now it's 57.7 million households representing 47% of the total.

• ETFs, or exchange traded funds, allowed diversification with a mouse click. In the 1990s, State Street Global Investors introduced Spyders that trade like a stock and track the S&P 500. That was followed by Dow Diamonds and the QQQs that track the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq 100.

In 2008, the SEC allowed the creation of actively managed ETFs.

ETFs and exchange traded notes now number 1,500 compared with a handful two decades ago. Global ETF assets amounted to $1.7 trillion at the end of 2013, an increase of $300 billion the year before. ETF trading amounts to 20% of Nasdaq volume.

• Some regulatory changes, while well-meaning, may have had unintended consequences. Regulation FD, for fair disclosure, was adopted in 2000. It says companies can't whisper to analysts information they don't make public. It's been popular with individual investors, but may cause greater volatility, especially around earnings announcements.

• The new stock market accessibility has led to the growth of active traders, says Kelli Keough, an executive with Charles Schwab. For brokers, their numbers are small, but they drive a significant amount of retail trading.

"They are fully engaged with the market," Keough said. "They've been trading an average of 10 years, but they still want to learn. They have a vast appetite for learning. For them, it's more than a hobby. It's a journey.

This new breed tends to be male and close to retirement and has average assets of $700,000 held by Schwab.

A younger group is taking notice of the market. Over the past few years, the average age of Schwab's active trader has dropped 14 years. And about 30% are women.

Beating The Bogeymen

With each market advance, highly publicized bogeymen have shaken public confidence.

In the 1980s, it was program trading. In '98, Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund run by two Nobel Prize-winning economists, made a bad bet on Russia's ruble and nearly brought the banking system down. Hedge funds became a pejorative in many people's minds.

In 2003 the discovery that a few mutual fund managers working for some of the country's most respected fund families were skimming profits that belonged to their shareholders also hurt confidence.

In the dot-com boom of the late '90s, some people thought stock trading from your PC was the road to quick riches. In the dot-com bust, they found out it wasn't.

Now high-frequency traders stand accused of skimming billions by trading ahead of everybody else with superfast computers and preferential access.

Regulators unintentionally created the loopholes that led to flash trading. New rules may close these firms down but spawn fresh unintended consequences.

Sometimes the significance of these scandals has been blown out of proportion by headline-hunting politicians. In every case, the harmful elements went away, often due to regulation and prosecution, but sometimes from competition and the efficiency of the marketplace.

The American stock market has turned out to be a wonderful driver of economic growth and wealth creation that lets the little guy in on the secret.

See William J. O'Neil's IBD Anniversary webinar on Past, Present and Future Market Leaders

Below from Chart Watchers,
Fletch

April 24, 2014 3:35 PM
Chart Watchers: Facebook Poised for Record Highs
By TOMI KILGORE

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Facebook's blowout quarterly results weren’t enough to produce a technical breakout in the stock, but some technicians believe the charts suggest an eventual return to record highs.
For investors, that would mean a gain another 18%, after the stock edged down 0.1% to $61.28 in recent trading Thursday. Despite Thursday’s slight loss, the social-networking company’s shares have rebounded sharply since they dropped 21% from its March 10 record closing high of $72.03 to the April 4 closing low of $56.75. Since then, Facebook has gained 8%.
Mark Newton, chief technical analyst at Greywolf Execution Partners, said the fact that the stock remains below its April highs doesn’t worry him that much, as the stock has already done enough over the last month to suggest the selloff in March is likely over.
“This [chart] formation remains bullish and one to own,” said Mr. Newton. He believes the stock is now set up for a break above the April highs to reach his short-term target around $67, which is 9.3% above current levels. Eventually, he sees a return to record highs above $72.
Although the big drop in March suffered in March may have shaken the confidence of short-term bulls, it didn’t really do that much damage to the bullish long-term outlook, Mr. Newton said.
The stock stayed well above the January closing low of $53.53, meaning the longer-term pattern of rising lows since June 2013, which technicians see as a necessary component of an uptrend, remained intact. In addition, the never threatened the 200-day moving average line, which many technicians use as a guide to the long-term trend. That line currently extends to $51.66.
Some investors say while the stock recent action is promising, they need to see a little more strength before they get bullish.
“I would definitely like to see it reclaim the 50-day [moving average] to say it was on its way back to new highs,” said Edward Painvin, chief investment officer at Chase Investment Counsel, which manages about $500 million, but doesn’t own Facebook. Many chart watchers use the 50-day moving average to gauge the short-term trend.
Tomi Kilgore CONNECT
TAGS
Chart Watchers
Facebook
Stocks
Technical Analysis
Technology
Markets
U.S.
Facebook

For sure........he doesn't need the money LOL,
Fletch

Let's hope with the great earnings it's back to new highs.........and beyond,
Fletch

Yes........it's called "sell the news".
Fletch

Hey burntpubes,
My wording could have been better. It should have been the ANNOUNCEMENT of the CFO leaving came at the worse possible time and not "the CFO leaving at the worst time."
This CFO leaving announcement came just as the earnings numbers were released. This IMO was "THE WORSE POSSIBLE TIME" because it cast a huge question mark right when the earnings release numbers should have been the main focus.
We have very green Futures this morning,
Fletch :>)

FB wasn't up as much as it could be for several reasons IMVHO. First, high fliers (like FB) have been out of favor with the market lately. Second, the CFO leaving right at the worst time. Third, the fact that news had been much more positive leading up to this earnings. I'm thinking we had a lot less shorts to squeeze from the great earnings.
Go FB,
Fletch


Below from Seeking Alpha

SA Market Current
Facebook's CC: Messenger users top 200M; slower ad growth expected
07:07 PM ET • FB
Over 200M of Facebook's (FB) 1.28B MAUs use Facebook Messenger, Mark Zuckerberg shares on the Q1 CC. That figure, which comes as Facebook begins requiring mobile users download the standalone Messenger app to use it, suggests Messenger's user base is on par with Instagram's and ~40% of WhatsApp's. (CC live blogs I, II)
Outgoing CFO David Ebersman notes headcount rose 39% Y/Y in Q1, and expects GAAP costs/expenses will grow 35%-40% in 2014; GAAP growth was 32% in Q1, and non-GAAP growth 26%.
Ebersman also warns Y/Y ad sales growth (+82% Y/Y in Q1) will slow meaningfully going forward. Facebook's 2014 revenue growth consensus (also accounts for payments/other revenue) was at 44.6% going into earnings.
Sheryl Sandberg cautions Facebook's auto-play video ads (launched last month amid high expectations) won't be a major contributor this year. On the other hand, she notes use of Facebook's custom targeting ad tools has grown 10x Y/Y, boosting ROI (and with it, ad prices).
Though accounting for just 16% of Facebook's MAU base, North America produced 47% of Facebook's Q1 revenue, down just slightly from Q4's 48%. Facebook's North American ARPU ($5.85, up $2.35 Y/Y) remains well above its ARPUs for Europe ($2.44, up $0.84), Asia ($0.93, up $0.29), and elsewhere ($0.70, up $0.20).
FB +3.7% AH. Q1 results, details, slides.

Below from Seeking Alpha,
Fletch

Symetra Reports First Quarter 2014 Results and Raises 2014 Guidance
Wed April 23, 2014 4:10 PM|Business Wire About: SYA    
Highlights

Adjusted operating income1 of $65.7 million was up 33% from first quarter 2013, driven by improved earnings in the Benefits Division. Adjusted operating income per diluted share1 was $0.56, up from $0.36 in first quarter 2013.
Net income was $79.3 million, or $0.68 per diluted share, up from $66.0 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, in first quarter 2013.
Benefits loss ratio improved to 57.1% from 68.5% in first quarter 2013.
Higher fixed indexed annuity account values delivered a significant earnings contribution in Deferred Annuities.
Strong year-over-year growth in sales of annuities, individual life, and group life and disability income.
Guidance range for 2014 Operating EPS raised to $1.80-$2.00.

AAPL trading in the 560's now.......hold on to both AAPL and FB a while IMHO,
Fletch

New highs soon?
Fletch

Below from Seeking Alpha news,
Fletch

Report: Facebook mobile ad network launching at month's end
11:53 AM ET • FB
Facebook's (FB +1.8%) anticipated mobile ad network will be launched at its April 30 f8 developer's conference, re/code reports. As expected, the network will leverage Facebook's treasure trove of data on its 1B+ mobile MAUs to deliver targeted ads on non-Facebook mobile properties.
Facebook has been intermittently testing a mobile ad network since 2012. The company will face competition from Google (AdMob), Apple (iAd), and Twitter (MoPub), as well as independent players such as Millennial Media (MM +0.5%).
Separately, Facebook says it will eventually use precise location data to deliver targeted ads; for now, the company's location-based targeting is limited to profile and IP address info.
The remarks follow the launch of Facebook's Nearby Friends feature (requires an opt-in), which uses GPS data to alert users when friends are in close proximity.
53% of Facebook's Q4 revenue came from mobile ads, largely through its sponsored news feed and app install ad products. Q1 results arrive on Wednesday

Left a gap after beating earnings.
$100.00+ not far off :>) ,
Fletch

Hey Mike,
It looks like around 4000 has been resistance or support several times before on the Naz.
Let's hope it is again,
Fletch

Hey jld,
Looks it might be a good time to re-enter. Double bottom and 8+ points saved are very good. Keep in mind the time of year and sell in May and go away. I also saw you post on JPM. I'm in at $48.50 LOL,
Fletch

Another gap left behind......The best leave them far far behind. :>)
Fletch

So who are the pigs?
Those that bought FB at 20-30 and didn't sell?