Elazar was launched in 2004 by Chaim Siegel and has served famous hedge fund clientele who demand a keen understanding of drivers of individual companies and financial markets. Chaim twice worked for renowned trader Steve Cohen of then-SAC Capital (now Point72). He was also a partner at JLF Asset Management which was funded by George Soros. Previously he was one of seven analysts on a $13B mutual fund at Morgan Stanley Asset Management. Elazar Advisors publishes its research into the Reuters/Refinitiv Institutional Platform and Factset where Elazar's earnings estimates are factored into the Street earnings numbers. Elazar's research is used regularly by fundamental and algorithmic traders and investors at some of the largest mutual fund and hedge fund managers in the world. Chaim has been a 5-Star top ranked analyst in Tesla and other big cap tech companies. Try us with a free trial here . All investments have many risks and can lose principal in the short and l
Facebook: Great Earnings Results Drive Stock Break Out
Higher Expenses
Facebook's continuing to try to keep earnings expectations low by raising the low end of their 2018 expense growth from 45%-60% to 50%-60%. We previously wrote we thought there was upward bias to expenses. We'd point out though that the last two quarters' expense growth wasn't able to meet those targets. Since they announced the 45-60% number back in Q3 they have yet to achieve it.
We think they announced a big expense number and upped it on Wednesday's earnings call to appease the government that Facebook's doing something about all the privacy and safety concerns.
But Higher Revenues And Leverage
That said, we don't think they can meet those targets making for very nice earnings leverage. We're using their 50+% expense growth and we still get big upside versus the Street for the rest of this year.
When you do the math the higher revenue growth offsets the higher expenses since Faceboook is a very high margin business. I think that's what people forget. They listen to the hype but don't work through the math. The math gives you big EPS upside.
The Chart
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You can see the line we drew saw key action holding or breaking Facebook stock over the last year.
Breaking above that key level on strong volume would be a technically bullish sign inviting back many shaken-out shareholders.
Conclusion
With as much skepticism yet such an amazing business model with big EPS upside we stayed bullish. We previously wrote that Mark Zuckerberg himself hinted to strong earnings results to-come during his Congressional visit by saying key business metrics did not materially change.
We maintain a $400 target price so big upside from here.
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