Two Facebook Analyst Downgrades, Bleeding Over to LinkedIn

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has had a very tough time attractive investors since its recent earnings report failed to continue to drive interest. It should be no surprise that the stock cooled off after having risen back up more than 11% ahead of earnings to above $31 versus $28.00 at the end of 2012.

Now we have two more analyst downgrades adding pressure to Facebook shares. What is interesting is not just the 2.8% drop this Tuesday. What is interesting is that the shares broke under the 2012 close out price of $28.00 and are now trading down around $27.50 in normal trading volume.

Facebook shares were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein. Then another firm named BTIG downgraded the social media giant from an already-cautious Neutral rating down to a "Sell" rating due to slowing user engagement trends. It was just recently, yet still after earnings, that Barron's drilled Facebook. When the stock was still above $30, Barron's said that perhaps it was far too bearish when the publication said that Facebook is not really worth a peak of $15.00 for its stock. It said that it should now just be worth no more than $25.00 per share.

Not all social media players are equal. LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) just hit an all-time on Friday and Monday and now shares are around $155 after taking a very small breather. LinkedIn is worth some $16.7 billion, while Facebook is worth some $65 billion or so.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls, Internet, Media, Technology, Technology Companies Tagged: FB, featured, LNKD