Millennials are bearish on Facebook ahead of earnings
- Facebook will report fourth quarter earnings after the closing bell Wednesday.
- Ahead of its report, millennials on trading apps Robinhood and Stockpile are dumping shares quicker than in previous quarters.
Facebook is scheduled to report fourth quarter earnings after Wednesday's closing bell.
Wall Street expects the social network to report earnings of $2.26 per share on revenues of $12.55 billion.
Ahead of the report, Millennials on the zero-fee stock trading app Robinhood are selling off Facebook shares 25% more often than they are buying.
"Ahead of the last earnings report, investors were buying 20% more than they were selling. This could be related to FB's recently announced changes to News Feed," Robinhood data scientist Dr. Saint Vesdapunt told Business Insider in an email. Facebook is the sixth most-held stock in the app, behind competing Snap but ahead of Twitter.
On another trading app, Stockpile, which allows users to buy fractional shares of companies whose stock price may otherwise be too expensive, millennials were significantly more bearish on the stock than their older peers.
Traders under 35 were twice as likely to sell Facebook as their older counterparts, Stockpile's data show.
In its third quarter earnings report, Facebook crushed analyst expectations, but warned investors that a spending spree was soon to took place, and "will impact profitability," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. Shares declined roughly 2% immediately after the news hit.
Still, Facebook has gained 45% in the past year. Wall Street analysts polled by Bloomberg predict shares could gain another 12%, with a price as high as $212, within the next 12 months.
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