During the time before Facebook’s IPO, Mark Zuckerberg and Co. had been making their rounds to woo investors, and to better explain the direction of their company. Some of the suits feared Zuckerberg’s fashion sense, and some questioned Facebook’s viability regarding ad content, which the CEO pointed out as being the number one priority of the social network in 2012. Still, Henry Blodget at Business Insider has pointed out that Facebook might’ve reduced its earnings guidance while making these rounds before the IPO – something that should really anger buyers, beyond NASDAQ’s reports of some sort of communication breakdown during the trading of Facebook shares, which is perhaps why the stock really didn’t perform well on Friday.
The aforementioned earnings guidance is a company’s forecast of how good business will be in the future. These sorts of forecasts directly affect trading, as they afford buyers the most current information. Facebook never officially submitted an earnings guidance, though Blodget has noticed a couple of mentions to where the company might’ve not only submitted, but also changed their forecast with a reduced guidance during their road show, something that would indicate a drastic change in business. This is something investors should’ve been made aware of. Though, this is all speculative.
An earnings guidance is highly material information, something that any investor should remain clear on. It was never officially stated if Facebook even submitted a guidance in the first place, though now some outlets are reporting an actual reduced guidance. Reuters had recently posted: Facebook also altered its guidance for research earnings last week, during the road show, a rare and disruptive move. Though, who knows? It seems unlikely that Facebook would be so bold to hide this sort of information on the eve of such a sensational IPO. The interent harbors all kinds of disinformation. Perhaps today investors will get a better idea of how Facebook stock might do, if NASDAQ is able to report correctly.