Facebook Leaves Unanswered Questions: Analyst
Online Producer
Facebook's much-hyped announcement Tuesday made no mention of mobile strategy or monetization plans, helping to lead its stock price lower, Max Wolff of Greencrest Capital said on CNBC.
"I think we saw a classic case of, 'Buy the rumor, sell the fact.' That being said, we've all kind of known there's been a lot of discussion search is coming," he said.
On "Fast Money," Wolff said that the announcement was "an early Valentine to Wall Street that seems to have snubbed the advance."
Facebook shares closed at $30.10, down 2.7 percent, which Wolff called "overdone."
(Read More: Facebook Missing Opportunities: Porter Bibb)
"Search is certainly value-add, but we got kind of an update to the road to search here. It's kind of a beta product. We didn't hear about mobile. We didn't hear about monetization," he said. "And it was a little bit less far along – even though it is making progress – than I think some of the folks had thought, and we saw that reflected in the share price."
The announcement, he added, wasn't far away to help Yelp, either.
Yelp shares closed 6 percent lower at $20.61.
"Search is certainly value-add, but we got kind of an update to the road to search here. It's kind of a beta product. We didn't hear about mobile. We didn't hear about monetization," he said.
"And it was a little bit less far along – even though it is making progress – than I think some of the folks had thought, and we saw that reflected in the share price."
Apparently, it wasn't far away enough to help Yelp, either.
Wolff said that it interesting that Facebook's new social search feature was also partnered with Microsoft's Bing to supplement results.
The move, he added, suggested that Facebook and Microsoft saw Google and Goople Plus "as an issue."
But the decline in Facebook's stock price reflected the fact that the product was still in beta.
"We don't know they are real competition yet," he said.
Trader disclosure: On Jan. 15, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Tim Seymour is long AAPL; Tim Seymour is long BAC; Tim Seymour is long CSCO; Tim Seymour is long SBUX; Karen Finerman is long AAPL; Karen Finerman is long BAC; Karen Finerman is long C; Karen Finerman is long JPM; Karen Finerman is long WMT; Karen Finerman is long TGT; Karen Finerman is long MSFT; Karen Finerman is long GOOG; Karen Finerman is long M; Karen Finerman is short SPY; Guy Adami is long C; Guy Adami is long GS; Guy Adami is long AGU; Guy Adami is long MSFT; Guy Adami is long NUE; Guy Adami is long BTU; Keith McCullough is long AAPL; Keith McCullough is long GDX; Keith McCullough is long GLD; Keith McCullough is long TLT;
For Stuart Jeffrey
I, Stuart Jeffrey, hereby certify (1) that the views expressed in this Research report accurately reflect my personal views about any or all of the subject securities or issuers referred to in this Research report, (2) no part of my compensation was, is or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this Research report and (3) no part of my compensation is tied to any specific investment banking transactions performed by Nomura Securities International, Inc., Nomura International plc or any other Nomura Group company.
For Max Wolff
Greencrest Capital seeks to do business with Facebook (FB).
