Stock in Focus: Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)

[BusinessWeek] Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has long hankered after China, where the company been banned since 2009. Facebook may have just gained a foothold to help it infiltrate the Chinese market: the appointment of Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to the board of one of China’s top business schools, the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management.Tsinghua University announced Zuckerberg’s appointment on Monday to the school’s board, a meeting ground of sorts for Western corporate higher-ups and Chinese officials.Stock PerformanceTaking a look at the company’s recent performance, Facebook Inc reported second quarter earnings for fiscal 2014 on July 23^rd. The company reported actual earnings per share of $0.42 against the consensus Street estimate of $0.32. This represents year over year growth of 121.0%. Facebook Inc posted revenue of $2.90 billion against estimates of $2.80 billion.Facebook, Inc. (FB) is currently valued at $203.84 billion and closed the last trading session at $78.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $75.83 and a 200-day moving average of $67.15.

Is this a Buying Opportunity?There are currently forty one analysts that we track that cover the stock. Of those forty one, thirty four have a Buy rating, seven have a hold rating. On a consensus basis this yields a score of 2.83 and a Buy. The combined price objective of these covering analysts is $80.32, which represents a 1.94% difference to the last closing price.The most recent analyst activity consisted of Stifel Nicolausboostingtheir buy stance on the company. Stifel Nicolaus has a price target of $99 which represents an upside of 25.65% from the last closing price. On the date of the report, the stock closed at $77.22.Another research firm weighing in recently was Janney Montgomery Scott who also downgraded their rating on the stock. On August 27^th Janney Montgomery Scottdowngraded their price target on the stock at $82.50, or a 4.7% upside to the current price. On the day of the report, FB shares closed at $74.63.Company Profile Facebook, Inc. operates as a social networking company worldwide. It provides a set of development tools and application programming interfaces that enable developers to integrate with Facebook to create mobile and Web applications. The company’s products include Facebook mobile app and Website that enable people to connect, share, discover, and communicate with each other on mobile devices and personal computers; Messenger, a mobile-to-mobile messaging application available on iOS and Android phones; and Instagram.