Reuters: Technology News: Facebook's progress in mobile wins it friends on Wall Street

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Facebook's progress in mobile wins it friends on Wall Street Oct 24th 2012, 13:15 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Facebook's mobile surprise allays growth fears 5:50am EDT Facebook mobile revenue grows faster than expected Tue, Oct 23 2012 Yahoo's new CEO Mayer takes on the mobile challenge Tue, Oct 23 2012 Mobile revolution, economy trip up tech giants Fri, Oct 19 2012 Google results miss; shares dive after premature report Fri, Oct 19 2012 Analysis & Opinion Google’s hardware ambitions proving costly Facebook's share prices are seen inside the NASDAQ Marketsite in New York May 18, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton Wed Oct 24, 2012 9:15am EDT (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's shares were set to open about 25 percent higher on Wednesday after its quarterly results showed a surprising jump in revenue from mobile advertising, easing concerns that the company was having trouble capitalizing on soaring use of smartphones and tablets. Several brokerages raised their price targets on Facebook shares, which have plunged since the company went public on May 18. Barclays Capital raised its target to $26 from $23, while Jefferies & Co raised its to $32 from $30. Facebook shares, priced at $38 in their initial public offering, closed at $19.50 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday. Facebook said on Tuesday it now gets 14 percent of its advertising revenue from mobile ads, a far bigger increase than mostly skeptical analysts had expected. Over time, Facebook's growing expertise in mobile advertising, combined with more user data, will drive mobile monetization for the company, Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co, wrote on a note. Sebastian has a "outperform" rating on the stock and a price target of $32. Needham & Co analyst Laura Martin said Facebook had opportunities to increase branded advertising revenue as top brands increase their association with the company in some form. Martin, who has a "buy" rating on the stock and a price target of $25, noted that more than 50 percent of Facebook's monthly active users in September accessed Facebook with mobile devices. Facebook's advertising revenue increased by 36 percent to $1.09 billion in the third quarter. Facebook had a painful trading debut in May as investors fretted about its slowing revenue growth and the large pool of additional shares set to hit the market as "lock-up" restrictions on employee share sales expired. Analysts said the lock-up period expiry remained a near-term concern, but the company' newly proven ability to monetize its overall advertising model could allay those concerns. (Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by Ted Kerr) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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