Facebook shares close higher on Thursday, company allows staff to work remotely until July 2021

According to an announcement by a Facebook representative on Thursday, company employees will be allowed to work from their homes until July 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With this decision the social media giant followed an example by other large tech companies such as Google, which has allowed its staff to work remotely until the end of June 2021.

Facebook shares closed higher for the fifth time in the past ten trading sessions on NASDAQ on Thursday. The stock went up 6.49% ($16.16) to $265.28, after touching an intraday high at $266.51, or a fresh all-time high.

Shares of Facebook Inc have risen 29.25% so far in 2020 compared with a 3.66% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2019, Facebook Inc’s stock went up 56.57%, thus, it again outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 28.88% gain.

“Based on guidance from health and government experts, as well as decisions drawn from our internal discussions about these matters, we are allowing employees to continue voluntarily working from home until July 2021,” a spokesperson for Facebook said in an emailed statement, cited by Reuters.

“In addition, we are giving employees an additional $1,000 for home office needs,” the person added.

Despite that the company is attempting to reopen offices in a restricted capacity at locations where government guidance allows it, many of the offices across the United States and Latin America will probably not reopen before the end of 2020, Facebook said.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 43 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Facebook Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $290.00, with a high estimate of $325.00 and a low estimate of $120.00. The median estimate represents a 9.32% upside compared to the closing price of $265.28 on August 6th.

The same media also reported that at least 37 out of 48 surveyed investment analysts had rated Facebook Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 6 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 2 analysts had recommended selling the stock.