During a meeting at Global X’s former headquarters in Manhattan in 2012, the exchange-traded fund provider’s then-CEO Bruno del Ama spoke passionately about the no-brainer upside potential of the Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL), which had debuted the prior November. And he was right: the fund’s total cumulative return from inception through this year’s second quarter was roughly 145 percent, which beat the 117 percent return on the S&P 500 Index during that period. Meanwhile, it has $178 million in assets under management.
But in a case of “mama told me there’d be days like these,” the fund nosedived more than 7 percent during the final two days of trading last week due to bad news impacting its two largest holdings—Twitter and Facebook. And the losses have continued on Monday.
Investors hammered Facebook’s stock after the company on late Wednesday disclosed second-quarter earnings that disappointed Wall Street and, more importantly, spooked investors with forecasts of slowing growth in its core business. The stock plunged 19 percent and shed $119.1 billion in shareholder value the next day, which set a record among U.S.-listed companies for a one-day loss in market value.
And the losses haven't let up with shares down another 4 percent as of 12:30 p.m. Monday, putting the stock in bear-market territory.
And on Friday, investors give Twitter’s stock a 21 percent haircut after the company’s late-Thursday disclosure that its user growth slowed in the second quarter as it attempts to purge fake accounts on its platform.
Twitter’s stock had gained nearly 80 percent year-to-date before Friday, as the company delivered profits the prior two quarters. Indeed, lost in the noise about slowing user growth was that Twitter beat consensus forecasts for both revenue and profit during the second quarter, marking three consecutive quarters of profitability.
And like Facebook, Twitter’s stock kept sliding Monday with a loss of about 7.5 percent in early-afternoon trading, placing it firmly in bear-market terrain.
By and large, it appears many analysts have maintained their ratings on Twitter, in part because of hopes that growing demand for its ads will help boost its average revenue generated from users. Analysts have mixed views on Facebook regarding whether to cut or maintain their ratings.
One analyst who covers the company, Eric Sheridan from UBS, noted in a research report that potential new growth drivers—such as Instagram, Watch, Stories, Messenger/WhatsApp and virtual reality) aren’t big enough over the short- and medium-term to offset decelerating growth and profit margin pressure in its traditional core business. He lowered his rating from “buy” to “neutral,” and cut his price target from $212 to $180.
Where does all of the recent hubbub leave the Global X Social Media ETF? For now, not in great shape. The stock dropped 3.8 percent as of early-afternoon trading on Monday, leaving it more than 10 percent lower than it was at the end of regular trading on Wednesday.