Facebook shares open above $38

Shares of Facebook opened the markets above $38, reclaiming its original value when the company launched its initial public offering 14 months ago.

With the markets opening, Facebook shares surged nearly 2% at $38.28. The recent surge in value following impressive quarterly earnings that showed a spike in monthly active mobile users.

Last week, Facebook reported quarterly profits of $333 million, up from a loss of 8 cents per share the same time last year. Meanwhile, monthly active mobile users surged 51%.

Facebook's IPO, expected to ignite a renaissance of Internet IPOs, did everything but. Shares of the No. 1 social networking stock peaked at $45 its first day of trading before closing up 0.6%. It quickly broke down from there, losing roughly half its value as of last September when shares fall as low at $17.55.

But the stock has been moving higher as of late, jumping more than 30% in a week, as investors saw the company's progress in mobile and other areas when it reported quarterly results last week.

Breaking above $38 will be the vote of confidence the stock needs.

"It is a psychological barrier more than anything, as the company's fall from grace after the IPO has remained a sore spot for investors and employees," says Colin Sebastian, analyst at R. W. Baird. "For the executive team, it represents some validation by the market that the company's mobile pivot and technology-driven platform improvements are finally paying off. After all, advertisers can't ignore more than a billion users forever."

Facebook hopes to stake a larger claim on the mobile market through a new game publishing initiative announced Tuesday. The plan would help promote smaller mobile titles, while raking in a portion of the sales revenue.

USA Today