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The social media sector was up 2% this week as LNKD’s Q4/12 results dominated with strong numbers across all of its business segments, driving the stock up 21% on the week. YELP also performed well after an initial lukewarm reaction to its Q4/12 numbers, but ZNGA led the sector in weekly performance with a gain of 28%, mainly on stronger-than-expected financial results and perhaps the speculation of potential online gambling opportunities in New Jersey (we remain cautious on ZNGA due to its disastrous previous two quarters).

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The social media sector was flat this week as FB’s Q4 results failed to impress investors who expected dramatic gains in mobile revenue (see commentary below) and YHOO also failed to excite with its earnings and 2013 outlook. However, for the calendar year of 2013, the social media sector is still up 8% and next week we will see notable earnings from ZNGA, YELP, and LNKD. ANGI led in weekly performance with a gain of 8%, mainly from a new payments partnership with Square and an upgrade from analysts ahead of its earnings in two weeks.

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The social media sector performed well this week with an average weekly gain of 2% as GOOG’s Q4/12 earnings drove the company up 7%, showing marginal CPC improvement, which have been under pressure in the last year due to the continued user shift from desktop to mobile (see Commentary). Pandora’s stock also rebounded strongly, though this was not based on any fundamental news, but rather it is likely on speculation of improved mobile ad performance flimsily based on GOOG’s results.

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The social media sector has roared so far in 2013 with an average gain of 6% this week as institutional interest intensified. P and WEBM (the parent company of SocialTimes) led the group with gains of 16% and 15%, respectively, although these moves were not news driven. FB had an impressive gain of 11% largely as a result of the new buoyant outlook from several research analysts on opportunities in mobile and Gifts for 2013. The company was also able to capitalize on a somewhat quiet week of news for the rest of the sector by rolling out voice messages capability in Facebook Messages and by launching the test of a new free VOIP service in Canada.

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The social media sector was up an average of 4% this week as it rebounded from last week’s negative performance. There were no real fundamental drivers to value that standout, but it is notable that continued downward pressure on AAPL shares (perhaps unfounded) did not drag the sector down. Also of interest is that WEBM (the parent company of Social Times) rebounded strongly with a 15% gain on the week.

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