Posted on 01/30/2012 8:43:19 AM PST by Hojczyk
Rogers told CNBC that the timing of an IPO this week would be a smart move by Facebook.
"It's been demonstrated many, many times before that sellers are usually smarter than the buyers, and they usually know when the best time to sell is, and Facebook is doing it," he said.
Turning to the broader US economy, Rogers said the United States looks and feels better because the government is throwing money at it.
"There is an election in November 2012. Every time there is an election, the government pumps as much money as it can so it can to win the election. Of course things are going to look and feel better because Bernanke is printing money and Obama is spending money," Rogers said.
He added that the US public are essentially "saps," being fooled by a government eager to harness as many votes as possible in an election year.
"They want to fool all of us saps and get us through the elections, and then they'll say we'll worry about those saps next year," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
I am buying Facebook. I bought Apple when it came out and people called my stupid. Yes I am now a rich stupid guy. Don’t buy Facebook I don’t care but trust me I will get even richer. I am excited about the opportunity. People actually tried to talk me out of buying Walmart, McDonald’s and Apple among others. Get out of my portfolio people. However, I would recommend not letting this opportunity to get away from you. The very people who tell me about how dumb it is to invest in stocks are the very people losing their homes, credit cards with max balances and raiding their 401Ks. We have some serious idiotic people who know NOTHING about money. Sad really.
I have no comment on the Facebook IPO, but I would never be a Facebook user.
Let me see how this works. I turn over as much personal data as I can to a private company who then owns my data in perpetutity, and sells it to advertisers. The company feels free to invade my privacy (which I have stupidly given away) and probably shares the data with the government. Anyone who uses Facebook is a complete fool.
Assuming both you and Mr. Rogers are on the level, it appears one of you knows something the other doesn’t and/or are better at reading the tea leaves.
Can you elaborate as to why JR is wrong on this one?
I think Facebook is smart to do an IPO now, but I wouldn’t buy it. The novelty of Facebook is wearing off a bit and the number of users has been declining. Their continued invasions of privacy (i.e. sending political affiliation to politico.com) and practice of forcing users to use features they don’t want (i.e. Timeline) will further alienate their users. Eventually a competitor will be able to seize momentum from Facebook.
Facebook is a household name and is not going anywhere. They have been able to whether controversy with aplomb. They have little debt and are making money with little advertising. What do you think will happen when they begin advertising? It will bust open a ton of cash flow for them. The naysayers have been calling for the death of Facebook for years and they keep getting disappointed. That will continue.
If you are a long term investor, have some years to go before retirement, plus have the means and comfort level to take investment risk, the Facebook IPO could pay off as a buy. Also, keep an eye on it and don’t stay in if you don’t have the stomach to weather ups & downs.
Teck stocks, like all stocks have ups & downs and some fail in the long run. AOL once was hot, APPL still is. Above, napscoordinator, lists his winners, he may have another list of losers, I sure have.
That is great advice. I am 42 so have some time to go before full retirement. I would imagine another 20-25 yeas. Good luck to you!!!!
I would not buy Facebook...and it comes down to one word:
Myspace
Around 4-5 years ago, Myspace was a juggernaut, with seemingly unlimited growth potential. And if I remember correctly, it was sold at a great loss (I think by Rupert Murdoch?).
I recently read a study about the rate of new sign ons for Facebook...and it indicated a decline in the growth rate. The study also expressed concern over the ‘cool’ factor of facebook, It just isn’t as cool anymore, now that Mom and Dad, and half your aunts and uncles are on it...and this study predicted that some unknown alernative site could steal users, especially up and coming users.
This is just one person’s opinion, which could easily be wrong. I understand that. However, the prediction could just as easily be true...and IMHO, there is very little ‘fall back’. To my knowledge, Facebook does not have much of an inventory of anything, which could theoretically be liquidated. I doubt they have a large ‘book value’, with real property backing up the company’s value...maybe some servers, maybe a headquarters building...but what do I know, maybe they lease. Their value is predicated on the popularity of a website. In one fell swoop, Facebook could be accused of racism, hypocracy, not being ‘Green’ enough, whatever, and their star could fall.
In other words - the value of this company depends on how ‘cool’ it is with the OWS crowd, for the most part. I don’t want to count on these people for anything.
Just my two cents...if you do invest, I hope you prove me wrong. Me - if one of my 401k funds gets a large position in FB, I will try to switch funds...I am that scared of the ‘Myspace factor’.
My son is 17, he and all of his friends “tweet” according to them FB is “like so LAST year”! FWIW.
MySpace is a great example I use frequently. One difference is the explosion in smartphones has made Facebook a real time interaction experience for millions of users. However, the “cool factor” is definitely real and one with many examples of explosive growth and precipitous declines. ICQ, AOL, MySpace, FreeRepbulic (joking) etc.
That means right now it's a good time to come up with next Myspace or Facebook that actually appeals to people.
People like their privacy and that is why both web sites grew, but when users lose their privacy, slammed with garbage that is when the web site goes.
Then again once you made your first Billion, then why would you even care anymore?
And the one's who posted frequently seemed like attention whores.
I understand the my space thing. But you must remember that most adult did not do my space. For example, I didn’t and the only people I knew that did my space was teeny boppers who change their minds on things in a split second. Facebook started off as a college group and expanded. I mean grandparents are on Facebook. I believe it is a different situation but we will see.
Yeah, but what kind of interaction? Telling people where you're eating dinner, showing pics of your kids swim meet? No one cares except those close to you, and they can communicate with you in a variety of other ways that are more direct and less intrusive than Facebook. I can see it as a way for family and close friends to stay in touch, but that's not a growth strategy.
I don’t disagree with the mundane nature of Facebook. I was just pointing out a major difference with MySpace and Facebook based on current technology. I truly believe long term it will be gone or greatly diminished (8- 10 years).
I heard that about MySpace once as well...
Well if I can double or triple my 40K that I am going to invest I will be happy. If I make a few million off it, I will be thrilled. I won’t be dumb enough to lose money. I have been investing 25 years and have done pretty well. I started with 400 dollars in high school graduation gifts in June 1987 and in October 1987 it was about 210 dollars after that October black Tuesday. Anyway, I just left it there and it came back and I started to put 100 a month and raised it along the way until I was putting 4000 dollars a month into stocks and mutual funds. Meanwhile my family and I were living on 2,000 dollars a month and living comfortably. Investing is my hobby. I love it. It is so much fun.
Well then don’t put any money into it. Nobody is forcing you. I will put money in for awhile and will see what happens. I predict it will go up for awhile at least.
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