Facebook (FB) stock hit a record high Wednesday, as investors pushed aside concerns that Snapchat owner Snap (SNAP) will batter the social networking giant.
Facebook stock climbed 1.8% to 136.12 in the stock market today, peaking at 136.79 intraday and moving past its previous high of 135.49 set on Feb. 2.
Facebook has gained about $16 billion in market valuation, about 4.2%, since Snap released its S-1 filling with the Securities & Exchange Commission outlining its IPO plans on Feb. 2.
IBD'S TAKE: Snapchat will be the first big tech IPO of 2017. Will it spur a stampede of tech unicorns going public?
The Facebook move to new highs was not accompanied by any major company announcement or notable upgrades to the stock. There was one announcement from Facebook-owned Instagram on Wednesday. Instagram users now have the option of combining up to 10 photos and videos in one post, instead of just one photo under the old format.
Facebook has added a series of new features to Instagram since last August, pushing back against Snap as its main competitor. Instagram has routinely copied the most popular features of Snapchat, with apparently strong success. It started with the introduction of Instagram Stories in August 2016, mimicking a popular feature called Snapchat Stories that had been around for about three years.
Before the arrival of Instagram Stories, Snapchat was adding new users at a steady clip. From Q4 2015 through Q3 2016, Snapchat added 46 million daily active users. But in the six months since the launch of Instagram Stories and the Snapchat IPO filing, it added just 5 million daily active users.
Facebook this week threw another punch at Snap. On Monday, Facebook's messaging app WhatsApp began adding an in-app camera for taking pictures and videos and adding a "status" update, much like Snapchat Stories. WhatsApp, used by more than 1 billion people every month, is launching the service in France, the Netherlands and few other countries, before a global rollout.
Snap looks to raise about $3 billion in an IPO that's expected to price on Wednesday and trade on the NYSE Thursday under the ticker SNAP. That would give the company a valuation of up to $22 billion. But if investors see Snap's user growth as stalled, they might start to see the company as the next Twitter (TWTR) vs. the next Facebook.
Facebook Could Stream Major League Baseball Games
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Facebook is close to adding some live sports to its growing live-streaming platform, with a deal with Major League Baseball in the works. As social networks become more akin to traditional TV networks, the potential deal echoes Twitter's partnership with the NFL to live-stream "Thursday Night Football" during the 2016 regular season.
Many other internet companies are in the video game, including the other FANGs, which also have all recently touched record highs.
Amazon (AMZN) stock fell 0.1% to 855.61 after setting a new all-time intraday high of 858.43.
Besides Facebook and Amazon, the other FANG stocks are Netflix (NFLX) and Google's parent, Alphabet (GOOGL). Internet stocks are expected to outperform the broader market in 2017. For a thorough look at ongoing FANG stock news, be sure to bookmark IBD's FANG Webpage
Facebook last week made several announcements related to video, which could pose a threat to the YouTube business of Alphabet. The announcements included a Facebook app designed for watching Facebook videos on a television. The app will "roll out soon" to app stores for Apple's (AAPL) Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Samsung Smart TV, with more platforms to come," Facebook said in a blog post.
Netflix stock closed up 0.9% to 143.86 Wednesday, after hitting its record high of 145.05 on Feb. 13.
Alphabet stock rose 0.25% to 851.36. Alphabet hit a record high of 867 on Jan. 27.
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