Facebook Shares Surge 9% After Upgrades

Shares of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. social media website, surged as much as 9 percent Monday after two major investment firms upgraded their ratings.

In late trading, Facebook shares were at $25.91, up $1.91, after reaching $26.09 earlier. Since the May 17 initial public offerings, shares had fallen as low as $17.55 from their initial price of $38.

At Bernstein Research, analyst Carlos Kirjner upgraded his recommendation to “outperform” with a price target of $33 because he expects the Menlo Park, Calif., company to successfully tap mobile applications to boost revenue, which he expects to reach nearly $7 billion next year and $8.65 billion in 2014.

Still, Kirjner said, “Facebook remains a risky investment” because so many things have to work correctly.

At Topeka Capital, analyst Victor Anthony kept his “buy” rating but increased his price target to $36 from $34, in part because it's passed through the period in which Facebook insiders were barred from selling their shares, greatly increasing the amount available.

Anthony said he expects Facebook to benefit from successful use of ecommerce activity such as gift giving to stimulate more activity.