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Comment by matte_black | Hacker News Reader

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matte_black

2017 was bad? My FB stock doesn’t seem to think so.

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Be sure to balance out your portfolio with some Uber and Blackberry

Also make sure you invest heavily in Enron.

And Tesla.

Oh wait, too soon?

Don't forget to diversify with some bitcoins

Diversify your digital currency with litecoin and other cryptocurrencies

I actually bought litecoins the other day.

I want to point out you can invest in something that you think will end up giving a good return even if you personally disagree with what the company or security does. I'd love to be wrong on my investment and see Facebook crumble and society free from it's harmful influences, but if that doesn't happen, at least the money I get from it's ever rising stock price will give me some comfort for a while. It's a win-win scenario, and pre-empts me from taking any stance in favor or against Facebook, which actually has some present value for me.

Are rising stock prices always a sign of company health?

Of course not. But they are a sign that professionals, who literally put their money on the line, think the company is getting more valuable.

I'm sure that Perdue Pharma is getting more valuable as the nation's opiod crisis worsens, too.

Facebook may become better at monetizing the remaining users, even as there is an exodus, and overall, it could show increasing profits and revenue. This would "excite investors" but it doesn't mean the company isn't screwed in the long term if things continue the way they are.

The other guy joked about Blackberry, because even as the US and Canadian markets were dumping Blackberry, the company continued to see some nice growth overseas, which also led to record sales, profits and so on. But it was obvious Blackberry was fighting against time with the iPhone destroying its core markets.

Most investors didn't see it at the time either, because they were just following the "positive quarterly results," much like Blackberry's leadership was.

> even as there is an exodus

Citation?

If you believe that investors don't look at non-revenue metrics like MAU you are sorely mistaken. In fact, it's almost all they care about in this category. Twitter's stock is in the toilet because their user growth has tapered, whereas Facebook continues to grow at a healthy clip.

If working at a company through and after its IPO period has taught me anything, it's that professionals choosing to put their money on the line or not is not really saying THAT much.

Or maybe just that people are confident that they will find a bigger sucker to sell to.

literally put their money on the line

It's not their money. It's your pension. They get paid regardless.

For the most part, yes. This is basically asking: are increased expected future profits always a sign a company health?

No, but I trust people who put their money where their mouths are, more than random people shouting online with no skin in the game

What you're trusting is people who are putting their mouths where their money is, hoping to create more greater fools to keep their investments going.

The stock market has risen for the past century. I think history doesn't agree with your statement.

You hear a lot of anecdotes about how "nobody uses Facebook anymore" etc for years now, but these stories don't seem to be congruent with the skyrocketing user growth numbers that Facebook officially reports.

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