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Facebook Stock To Begin Trading In May

By Ian Bush

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- This past week, Facebook made its first move toward becoming a public company. The 'FB' stock could begin trading in May, and some are wondering if they should get in on the action.

We don't know how much Facebook expects to sell shares for, but many investors likely won't get a shot at the best rate. The IPO price is typically reserved for mutual and pension funds, which gobble up mass quantities. They can sell to the open market, and the rest of us are usually left watching as the price sails sky-high.

Sometimes, online discount brokers have IPO shares to sell.

"One has to be impressed that 12% of the population of the world is a Facebook user. The opportunity to reach a billion people in many ways and appeal to them, and have them be your user base, has tremendous potential," says Dave Kotek, Chief Investment Officer at Cumberland Advisors in Vineland, NJ.

Whether Facebook will realize that potential and continue its growth, he says, is a big question for investors, who always hear 'past performance is no guarantee of future results.'

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