patrick.net

Facebook effects:
- makes people unhappy: https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-facebook-makes-us-unhappy
- makes people lonely and less sociable: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2419419/All-lonely-Facebook-friends-Study-shows-social-media-makes-MORE-lonely-unhappy-LESS-sociable.html
- makes teens suicide more likely: https://nypost.com/2017/11/14/rise-in-teen-suicide-connected-to-social-media-popularity-study/
- spreads misinformation: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-08-31/why-fake-news-spreads-so-fast-on-facebook
- increases polarization: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2015/05/13/political-polarization-on-facebook/
- compromises peoples privacy: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/06/29/facebook-location-tracking-friend-games/#2f52462035f9
- makes people lose time: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/billrobinson/facebook-the-worlds-bigge_b_4585457.html

Are these people evil? Nope, (it would be hard for evil people to accomplish all this) just fine capitalists trying to make a buck.

But hey, Goran doesn't care. Only Zuck is a dem. Doh!

Why should I care about people’s personal choices? That’s the great thing about being a libertarian.

Never have American libertarians loved so much authoritarianism .

Heraclitusstudent says

Never have American libertarians loved so much authoritarianism .

Are you sure you're using that word correctly? Care to point out any policies or just going to be satisfied with levying attacks without substance?

MrMagic says

I see there's concern on how many insiders dumped tons of stock in the last few months. It isn't just Zuckfuck.

"SEC May Want To Take A Look": Facebook Insiders Dumped $4.1 Billion Weeks Ahead Of Record Crash.

Bloomberg has also picked up on this insider selling deluge, and writes that "nine Facebook insiders combined to sell about $4.13 billion worth of stock since the Cambridge Analytica data-mining scandal first surfaced on March 17."

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg accounted for 85 percent of the total, according to data from InsiderInsights.com, which analyzes such transactions. The social media giant’s stock fell as much as 24 percent in late trading Wednesday after second-quarter sales and user growth disappointed investors.



The acceleration in selling is notable because as Gartman, and we, showed yesterday, that compares with $4.31 billion in all of 2017. And while the traditional excuse is that "the sales were part of pre-determined trading plans" the sharp acceleration in 2018 selling, and especially in recent months, should raise some eyebrows, perhaps those of the regulators, because as Gartman - who will have the last words - writes:

"The selling was of such massive size and such recent hurried nature that one had to take note of Zuckerberg’s liquidation as a clear indication of future potential problems. Those problems were made clear last evening. The SEC may want to take a look!"

Then again, with everyone's pension invested in facebook in some capacity, the last thing the SEC will dare to do is cause a market "event" by taking a close look at the one company in which as of last quarter seemingly everyone was invested...

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-26/sec-may-want-take-look-facebook-insiders-dumped-41-billion-stock-scandal

For perspective, FB was last at today's price on April 23rd of this year so the loss is only rewinding back to then. So they lost 3 months of gains, big deal.

It's basically a non-story. Maybe hyped by the media out of hatred for Facebook's throwing cold water on the Russia hype.

Strategist says

FB provided an effective form of communication.

Facebook was a cul-de-sac on the path to better communication. People are finally realizing it, too. Twitter started the same year as Facebook, and yet somehow has become more relevant while Facebook is quickly becoming grandma's scrapbooking room. Instagram started as just pretty pictures and now is almost its own communication platform. All I ever saw on Facebook was people's falsely curated lives and shameless look-at-me-ism. And I am so glad I don't have any horror stories about random creeps from 25 years ago reaching out--if we haven't talked since high school, there's a reason!

Patrick says

FB was last at today's price on April 23rd of this year so the loss is only rewinding back to then. So they lost 3 months of gains, big deal.

It's basically a non-story.

It was overpriced in April.

Patrick says

It's basically a non-story.

The story isn't FB. The story is how inflated the market is. That's the only reason their losses top Intel's. Red herring, or canary in the coal mine, not sure which is more accurate, but it's a warning to everyone in stocks, not just FANG'ers.

MrMagic says

"The selling was of such massive size and such recent hurried nature that one had to take note of Zuckerberg’s liquidation as a clear indication of future potential problems. Those problems were made clear last evening. The SEC may want to take a look!"

#lockzukfuckup

Patrick says

For perspective, FB was last at today's price on April 23rd of this year so the loss is only rewinding back to then. So they lost 3 months of gains, big deal.

It's basically a non-story. Maybe hyped by the media out of hatred for Facebook's throwing cold water on the Russia hype.

True, but stalling user growth is often the beginning of a larger decline and many bought at the highs so a 20% haircut is significant. I don't like either FB or AMZN but AMZN and AAPL for that matter are in a different category than FB. I don't think FB is a good buy even here. Of course for long term holders this is not a big deal.

My order filled today at $175/share

Good time to buy

Patrick says

One thing I learned working at Schwab is that analyst recommendations are actually worse than useless. The worst results come from buying stocks rated "strong buy"! The second worst are the stocks rated "strong sell".

Best results are from stocks rated "hold" or not rated at all.

One thing to note about financial "experts" is that they are wrong consistently (not sure if this is because of the way game theory works)

BayArea says

My order filled today at $175/share

If FB maintains the revenue and profits around the same current level, given PE 25, its is not too expensive in the long run.

Blue says

Patrick says

One thing I learned working at Schwab is that analyst recommendations are actually worse than useless. The worst results come from buying stocks rated "strong buy"! The second worst are the stocks rated "strong sell".

Best results are from stocks rated "hold" or not rated at all.

One thing to note about financial "experts" is that they are wrong consistently (not sure if this is because of the way game theory works)

Forecasting is an art, not a science. If it was a science, all the analysts would always be right, because they learn the same thing at Ivy League schools. And they would all be billionaires. The truth is, they know everything about a stock except for the only thing that matters. The Future Fucking Price.

Blue says

BayArea says

My order filled today at $175/share

If FB maintains the revenue and profits around the same current level, given PE 25, its is not too expensive in the long run.

A PE of 25 will never hold though in a recession, PE could easily go below 10. But so far there's no recession in sight.

Patrick says

One thing I learned working at Schwab is that analyst recommendations are actually worse than useless. The worst results come from buying stocks rated "strong buy"! The second worst are the stocks rated "strong sell".

Best results are from stocks rated "hold" or not rated at all.

Agreed, the best stocks for me, multi-baggers and more, were those that had buy or hold on them (even though I don't give it much weight). Sometimes even sell. Strong buy and strong sell usually means avoid.

mell says

Blue says

BayArea says

My order filled today at $175/share

If FB maintains the revenue and profits around the same current level, given PE 25, its is not too expensive in the long run.

A PE of 25 will never hold though in a recession, PE could easily go below 10. But so far there's no recession in sight.

I'd keep a FB position at 25 PE. It is still the pre-eminent social media platform.

To be a prospective financial advisor one has to complete a 3-hour Series 65 exam, costs $178. The prerequisite is a undergraduate degree. It can not be too difficult to get one, hope many of you well aware of 'advisor'.

Blue says

To be a prospective financial advisor one has to complete a 3-hour Series 65 exam, costs $178. The prerequisite is a undergraduate degree. It can not be too difficult to get one, hope many of you well aware of 'advisor'.

So someone with a degree in music, who managed to pass a 3 hour test after 9 attempts, is fully qualified to advise you on how to handle your life savings.

CBOEtrader says

It is still the pre-eminent social media platform.

This is the crux of the biscuit. I've not seen a damn site that's even considered a legit competitor to FB. I wouldn't pour my fortune into FB at this point, but I also wouldn't be overly concerned that it's crashing harder. FB is purely based on human emotions and those turn at a moments notice. For now, I think FB is fine and given the communicative nature of our society, I think FB has a decent future. Not sure about stock price though.

Every major company that have had spectacular one day drops in the tens of billions, like Microsoft, Intel, Amazon, have always came back to achieve new heights.
Every one of them.

Strategist says

Every major company that have had spectacular one day drops in the tens of billions, like Microsoft, Intel, Amazon, have always came back to achieve new heights.
Every one of them.

You weren't invested in Enron or Bear Stearns. Yes though, overreactions are normal into crashes, ESPECIALLY in market wide crashes like 2008. You'll remember Warren Buffet started piling on into the crash. Didn't he sell a $multi billion SP500 750 put to GS? Market touched a low of 666 (not a coincidence) in March of 2009 before bouncing like crazy.

My old boss took his 2008 self paid bonus of $20 million, and in 2009 bought something like $80 million of notional value corporate bonds with that $20 million. I think he had a 250% return in one year.

It will soar back with vigor, no question

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/27/twitter-earnings-q2-2018.html

Twitter shares drop 14 percent after reporting declining monthly active users
Earnings per share: 17 cents vs. 17 cents, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate
Revenue: $711 million vs. $696.2 million, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate
Monthly active users (MAUs): 335 million vs. 338.5 million, according to StreetAccount and FactSet estimate

In other news, ExxonMobil is down 3.5%. It's all because of my electric car. I feel your pain, ExxonMobil, and thoroughly enjoy it.

No guarantee but electric cars is one of the reasons why the oil may not go too high.

Blue says

No guarantee but electric cars is one of the reasons why the oil may not go too high.

Eventually, every new car sold on the planet will be electric. It's not a question of if, but when. Therefore, it's not a question of if oil becomes obsolete, but when.
I am willing to bet no major car manufacturer will be manufacturing gasoline cars by 2030. The economics shows an incredible savings with electric cars. San Diego is already offering electricity to electric car owners at 9 cents a KwH if you charge at night. That's 3 cents a mile, $30.00 a month for fuel if you drive 1000 miles per month. No one will want to pay $150.00 per month for the same miles on gas. The utility also gave $500 rebate per electric car on their electric bill, essentially giving you free fuel. I received a $1,000 credit for 2 e-cars.

Strategist says

Eventually, every new car sold on the planet will be electric. It's not a question of if, but when. Therefore, it's not a question of if oil becomes obsolete, but when.
I am willing to bet no major car manufacturer will be manufacturing gasoline cars by 2030. The economics shows an incredible savings with electric cars. San Diego is already offering electricity to electric car owners at 9 cents a KwH if you charge at night. That's 3 cents a mile, $30.00 a month for fuel if you drive 1000 miles per month. No one will want to pay $150.00 per month for the same miles on gas. The utility also gave $500 rebate per electric car on their electric bill, essentially giving you free fuel. I received a $1,000 credit for 2 e-cars.

I would like to thank all tax payers for contributing towards my electric car. I really appreciate it. Please contribute more.
Hey Captain, need a free ride to the airport? You are paying for it anyway. he he he he.
Gosh, I love rubbing it in. It's so much fun being evil.

Strategist says

The utility also gave $500 rebate per electric car on their electric bill, essentially giving you free fuel. I received a $1,000 credit for 2 e-cars.

How's it feel to be a Socialist?

Strategist says

You are paying for it anyway. he he he he.
Gosh, I love rubbing it in. It's so much fun being evil.

You're welcome!

Patrick says

Twitter shares drop 14 percent after reporting declining monthly active users

Without Trump, Twitter would have folded in 2015.

Trump really is the main attraction of Twitter these days. He's pretty damn entertaining.

CBS stock down sharply on news CEO Les Moonves will be named in sexual misconduct article.

#MeToo

Anyone wondering about Trump's vocal message to his supporters the other day. When he implored his supporters to stick with him and don't listen to the fake news.
Then his very vocal damning Tweet on banning and censoring Conservative users. The other day I looked Trump's Twitter post. Every single reply was the Vicious nasty Liberals regurgitating Maxine Water's Ape Monkey vitriol. Not a single Trump supporter is left on Twitter to thank him or to post a positive thought in that thread.

It's a low down dirty rotten shame the levels the Liberal filth will stoop.

tovarichpeter says

Good time to buy

Yep, I mean think of everything they produce! Advertising revenue... Umm... ... ...

MrMagic says

Strategist says

The utility also gave $500 rebate per electric car on their electric bill, essentially giving you free fuel. I received a $1,000 credit for 2 e-cars.

How's it feel to be a Socialist?

Fucking awesome.

TwoScoopsOfWompWomp says

CBS stock down sharply on news CEO Les Moonves will be named in sexual misconduct article.

#MeToo

Ah yes more dog-eat-dogism. Eeeeexcellent!