LONDON, January 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) taught an oft-repeated lesson to stock market players last year. However, the wisdom of not buying into the hype is easily forgotten in the stock market. Nothing else can explain the hoopla that surrounded Facebook IPO last year, especially after the IPO debacle of its conjoined twin Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA). While other internet stocks like Groupon are still struggling to live up to the lofty valuations, Facebook and Zynga are now looking to break some new ground to salvage their position. StockCall in-depth analysis on Facebook and Zynga are available upon registration on

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Facebook Makes Foray into Social Search

Facebook stock is finally on upward trajectory after its absolutely dismal performance, following its IPO. The company is now looking at creating new revenue streams and consolidating its position. Facebook also seems to be sticking to its ground when it comes to creating controversies related to privacy rights of its users. This time it ruffled the feathers by making arbitrary changes to Instagram privacy policy. According to rough estimates, Instagram lost more than 25 percent of its active users after privacy policy misstep. The complete analysis on Facebook can be accessed for free at

http://www.StockCall.com/FB012313.pdf

Facebook also recently tried to arouse interest by making cryptic announcements about its future plans. While the sector analysts were making bizarre assumptions about the introduction of new Facebook phone, the real deal turned out to be much tamer offering of social media search function. While many market pundits went gung ho claiming Facebook to be the new Google, the reality is much more prosaic. While the new function is not going to be a considerable threat to Google, but it can certainly help Facebook in gaining lead over its peers like Yelp and LinkedIn. However, since the stock declined soon after the announcement, it is clear that the market is taking Facebook's plans with a pinch of salt. The concept of social search is already used by companies like Netflix, LinkedIn and Yelp. So, the investors will have to wait to see if Facebook will be able to give it a new spin.

Given the fact that Facebook has not made any fundamental change to its business, the rollercoaster ride of its stock can be attributed to idiosyncrasies of stock market. However, lately, the stock has been attracting Hedge Fund and institutional investors, retail investors can ride the tide while it lasts.

Zynga Moves from Internet Money to Real Money Gambling

Zynga Inc. [Free Research Report on ZNGA]⁽¹⁾, on the other hand, received a major setback when Facebook announced its independent foray into social gaming. Zynga receives a major chunk of its revenue from its collaboration with Facebook, so its bottom-line is going to feel the heat in coming quarters. However, at the same time, Zynga is moving away from its internet legacy. In order to better monetize its offerings, the company now offers online casino games in the UK. On the similar lines, its application for offering real money casino games in Nevada is also under review. It is still not going to be an easy road for Zynga as online gambling is one hot spot fraught with complicated legal implications.

Zynga is also struggling to retain its talent as it has seen massive exodus of its management and creative talent in past couple of months. The problem is only set to get more compounded as the social gaming company also plans to lay-off as many as 150 employees to cut its costs. On the plus side, the company has rather robust balance sheet with healthy cash reserves which it may use to buy back its shares and provide value to its investors. So, while the stock is not likely to show upward move like Facebook, it may stabilize in the medium-term.

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1. Zynga Inc. Technical Analysis [ http://www.StockCall.com/ZyngaInc012313.pdf ]

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