Time to take profits

Article Excerpt

FACEBOOK INC. $313.59 (Nasdaq symbol FB; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average) (facebook.com; Shares o/s: 2.4 billion; Market cap: $878.9 billion; No divd.) is now up 52.9% since we first recommended it in our June 2020 issue at $205.10. But we see some significant challenges looming for the company, and we think now is a good time to sell and take profits. Foremost among the challenges is a momentum-gathering trend towards consumer privacy. That’s apty illustrated by Apple’s new iOS 14.5 phone operating system upgrade. It includes a privacy feature that requires any app that wants to track your activity and share it with other apps or websites to ask your permission. Meanwhile, next year, Google plans to remove third-party tracking “cookies” from its market-leading Chrome browser. Cookies are small pieces of computer code that websites attach to a visitor’s web browser, also to track users online. Both are threats to Facebook’s business model, relying on targeted advertising. Facebook is now a sell. sell…