By: Matt Krantz
Facebook shareholders anxious for a bump when the stock is added to widely tracked indexes are going to have to be patient.
Monday,
struggling shares of the No. 1 social networking company get added to
an obscure index called the Nasdaq Q-50, which tracks stocks next in
line to be added to the Nasdaq 100. The Nasdaq 100 is a major index, and
one on which many exchange traded funds and mutual funds base their
holdings.
The problem is, the Nasdaq 100 is only scheduled to be updated once a year in December
.
Also, the index with the most money invested on it -- the Standard and
Poor's 500 -- typically doesn't add a company until at least a year
after it goes public or longer. And that would be May 2013 for Facebook.
"It's
way too early to anticipate this," says Messod Beneish, professor of
accounting at Indiana University. "There will be a few earnings
announcements that will preoccupy investors a little more."
Investors
hope if Facebook gets added to a major index it might repair some
wounds. Shares of Facebook have fallen 40% from their initial offering
price in May. Shares rose 27 cents Friday to $22.86.
But these hopes are likely unfounded because: