Facebook suffered the biggest one-day wipe out in stock market history and that took a toll on Zuckerberg’s fortune. Facebook’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune took a hit of $15 billion on Thursday. The social media platform’s Chief Financial Officer David Wehner said that the company faced a multi-year squeeze on its business margins and this comment lead to the 16 brokerages, cut their price targets on Facebook. Shares closed down at almost 19 percent at $176.26 in the after-hours the stock was pulled down nearly 9 by the slowing revenue growth.
Wehner said on a conference call, “Over the next several years, we would anticipate that our operating margins will trend towards the mid-30s on a percentage basis.” Facebook was spending a lot on its security and initiatives primarily because they wanted to convince the users that their privacy is being protected. Facebook stock margin fell to 44 percent in the second quarter from 47 percent a year ago due to this. Shares in Alphabet (GOOGL.O) closed up 0.7 percent, while those in Apple Inc (AAPL.O) fell 0.3 percent and Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) closed barely higher. Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) was up 2.3 percent.
A lot of value investors might jump in and support the stock at these levels … it’s probably a good buying opportunity for a long-term investor, but I wouldn’t be jumping in with both feet today. – Rahul Shah, chief executive officer at Ideal Asset Management in New York, a Facebook shareholder
Jake Dollarhide, the Chief Executive Officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is of the opinion that Facebook is a three-year investment. He has trimmed the amount of Facebook shares in his clients’ account. He said, “We own it for its leadership in the tech industry. It’s the F in FAANG, but what’s to say that, 10 years from now, Facebook isn’t the next Myspace and something else has taken its place?”
