Aegis Capital Starts Facebook (FB) at Buy

Aegis Capital initiates coverage on Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) with a Buy rating and a price target of $150, citing core growth, Instagram, messaging monetization.

Analyst Victor Anthony commented, "We are initiating coverage of Facebook with a Buy rating and a $150 price target for year-end 2017. Facebook’ shares were up ~10% in 2016 but are down 13% from the high, which was set prior to 3Q16 earnings on concerns about decelerating ad revenue growth starting in mid-2017, and rising costs. On the revenue side we see user growth, advertiser demand, time spent, live video, video ads, better ad targeting, and Instagram helping to offset the lack of ad load growth. And on the expense side, Facebook has typically guided costs aggressively, only to come in below those estimates. We expect the same for 2017. The shares are cheap relative to our growth estimate (which does not include monetization of the two messaging apps). We see Facebook as the best way to continue to play the social media user time and advertising shift."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Facebook click here. For more ratings news on Facebook click here.

Shares of Facebook closed at $115.05 yesterday.

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