Valuation expert Professor Aswath Damodaran analyzes the Facebook-WhatsApp deal in his latest post.
Josh Brown points readers to this one key paragraph, which any market-watcher would be wise to keep bookmarked.
Here's Damodaran:
My experience with markets has been that no one has a monopoly on virtue and good sense and that the hubris that leads to absolute conviction is an invitation for a market take-down. To investors to view deals like the Whatsapp acquisition as evidence of irrational exuberance, remember that there are traders who are laughing their way to the bank, with the profits that they have collected from their social media investments. Similarly, for traders who view fundamentals and valuation as games played by eggheads and academics, recognize that mood and momentum may be the dominant factors driving social media companies right now, but markets are fickle and fundamentals will matter (sooner or later).