Lent is here -- that 40 day period when many Christians challenge themselves to forgo their favorite indulgences. But the companies that produce these vices can be downright virtuous for your portfolio.
Facebook posted a 32 percent jump in third-quarter revenue to $1.26 billion, as the company reignited advertising growth with the help of larger-than-expected gains in mobile. The company's shares leapt 9 percent to $21.22 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
The Pep Boys are a trio, but these day, the company is cruising solo -- and it's not enjoying driving alone. The retailer of auto parts and provider of automotive services, spurned after merger talks this spring, posted uninspiring quarterly results on Tuesday night.
Instagram accepted a roughly $1 billion buyout bid from Facebook earlier this year, shortly before the world's largest social networking website operator went public. It seemed like a great deal at the time, but Instagram's no longer a $1 billion company.
Faced with great expectations, Facebook is staring down some potentially unnerving obstacles when it comes to key areas of monetization and growth: public distrust and display advertising apathy.
For those who want to own just one ceremonial share of a company, there are websites that specialize in "one share" transactions. The operators of those sites say they expect Facebook to become one of their most popular stocks once it begins trading publicly.
Facebook expects its investor base will exceed 500 this year, a level at which the SEC will require it to disclose its financial results to the public. That may be enough to push the social networking giant into an IPO in 2012 -- but founder Mark Zuckerberg could opt to release that data and keep Facebook private anyway.
