Facebook to Replace Teradyne in S+P 500

Facebook investors received some welcome news this past week after it was announced that the company would be joining the S+P 100 and S+P 500. Facebook will be replacing Teradyne (TER) in the S+P 500 and Williams (WMB) in the S+P 100.

Facebook will officially join the S+P 100 and S+P 500 at the close of trading on December 20th.

Facebook's upcoming inclusion into the S+P 500 is the cherry on top of what has been a very strong 2013 for the company. Shares of Facebook are up over 80% this year, mainly due to the fact that they were able to figure out mobile monetization, which has helped to propel the stock to new highs. The company's previous lack of mobile revenues was an Achilles' heel, but they have managed to completely turn this around and mobile ads now represent a very large part of the part of the company's revenue mix.

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In 2012, seemingly nothing went right for Facebook. The company's IPO was severely botched. The company's stock tanked once it went public, and many over-eager shareholders were left with 50%+ losses in just a short period of time. After so much hype, Facebook had seemingly fallen flat on its face.

If 2012 was a disaster for Facebook, 2013 was the exact opposite. As mentioned, the company has seemingly figured out how to monetize its mobile users (an extremely important point, considering how many Facebook users are now accessing the site using their phones and tablets). In addition, the company's acquisition of Instagram is starting to pay dividends, and certain new ad formats are proving to be hits with advertisers.

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It will be interesting to see how Facebook does in 2014 after everything seemingly went right for the company in 2013.

Filed under: General Market News