Facebook Inc. (FB): Buy Proposition, Or Just a ‘Head Fake’?

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), after dipping to all-time lows earlier this month, has seen an impressive rally in the week or so since CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed optimism and promising ideas for generating revenue – not the least of which was the concept of developing an internal search engine to help users find items within Facebook that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) just can’t reach. After dipping below $18 a share, the stock has rallied to open Monday at $22 and has been trending upward despite the looming specter of more lockup expirations in the coming weeks, which likely will float more shares into the market.

Although Zuckerberg did not report anything concrete in terms of new services or revenue-generators, the hope and optimism he expressed – as well as his humility in admitting mistakes during his Q-and-A session at a TechCrunch conference – has seemed to convince some analysts and rating companies of late, as Capstone Monday morning affirmed its “buy” rating on Facekbook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) stock in a research note, posting a $26 price target. Topeka Capital posted a “buy” rating last week, listing a $36 price target, while Oppenheimer listed Facebook as “outperform” and JPMorgan Chase posted an “overweight” on the stock last week in their respective research notes.

While many seem to be jumping on the Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) bandwagon, there are others who are a bit more pragmatic as to buy into all of the talk. One commentator posted his opinion that without any hard numbers to back up the talk, he advises not jumping into Facebook stock before its next earnings report, slated for release in October. Based on the last earning report, this investor doesn’t seem to have much stock in the Facebook stock, citing more that the rise in Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) stock is tied to the tech industry in general moving up, as Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have all seen their stock prices rise.

Whether one buys into the talk or is skeptical of the numbers, any positive momentum is welcomed by investors in Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) stock, like hedge-fund manager George Soros of Soros Fund Management.