Facebook Value Poses Questions for Mutual Funds

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With Facebook’s impending I.P.O.filing many questions remain unanswered about the company. One that has everyone from mutual fund companies to investors scratching their heads, is how much are the company’s shares worth?

According to the investment-research firm Morningstar,more than 50 mutual funds own shares of Facebook. The company has received a valuation between $75 billion to $100 billion, the Wall Street Journal has reported while the numerous mutual funds have their varying estimates. This includes a $25 per share value by Fidelity Investments while T. Rowe Price Group comes in higher at $31.15. Other funds come in between these two figures.

Mutual funds are one of the few vehicles for investors to get in on pre-I.P.O companies. The amounts are small and pricing discrepancies can take place as mutual fund buyers will pay different prices for a piece of Facebook than its value, depending on which fund they invest in.

One example is the Morgan Stanley Focus Growth, which valued Facebook at $27 a share; investors could purchase the fund with Facebook in it at $33.63 a share.On the other hand, with the $31.15 T. Rowe Price Facebook valuation, investors would have paid $33.82 per share of the mutual fund, a 0.57 percent rise.

For investors looking to redeem funds, they would have received less from the Morgan Stanley fund than T. Rowe Price because of its higher valuation.

According to Doug Scheidt, the SEC’s associate director of investment management, the law allows fund companies some latitude in pricing private companies. This may be determined by price quotes from third-party brokers, including …

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