Facebook Shares Rise As J.P. Morgan Reiterates Overweight Rating

Shares of Facebook Inc. rose Friday after a J.P. Morgan analyst reiterated his overweight rating on the stock. "Facebook remains our top overall pick as we believe it is still early in monetizing Facebook's base of 1.49 billion users, and the company is building other strong franchises in Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp," said analyst Doug Anmuth in a report. Anmuth noted Facebook's engagement in mobile Internet time was strong at about 22% while engagement via desktop reached 18% in September. The analyst expects upside potential of its ad revenue in the second half of the year from its newsfeed, video and ad load acceleration on Instagram. Anmuth assigned Facebook's stock with a price target of $118. Facebook shares rose 1.3% to $97.20 for a year-to-date gain of 25%. Facebook is scheduled to release third-quarter earnings on Nov. 4.