Out Fox The $treet

With growth rates in most key metrics exceeding 100%, SolarCity ( NASDAQ: SCTY     ) seemed like the last company that would need to engage Groupon ( NASDAQ: GRPN     ) to hock its products. The installer of rooftop solar systems at monthly costs comparable to the local power utility, SolarCity doesn't appear to lack customers after reaching the 110,000 threshold in the last quarter. Typically Groupon provides promotions for small business clients to attract customer attention in crowded marketplaces. The business proposition relies on obtaining repeat business after getting the customer in the door for the first time. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.

With the bullish results from Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) , will it push GSV Capital (NASDAQ: GSVC ) back towards book value? The stock trades considerably below book value due partially to the poor results of that stock in the public markets. The company is a publicly traded investment fund that specializes in venture-capital backed pre-IPO firms. Anybody following GSV Capital knows that the company went public back in 2011 to take advantage more » Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Anybody that has invested in Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA ) since the IPO back at the end of 2011 probably doesn’t see many potential catalysts in the stock. The company was a massive hit with social games such as Farmville and has a strong franchise with Zynga Poker. Yet as the excitement over social games dies down, the company now has several catalysts that could push the stock higher. The catalysts more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

As report after report continues lamenting the fact Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) is losing the younger generation, investors have turned content with the stock. Does a disconnect exist between older investors and the younger crowd? Or is it possible that Facebook can overcome the loss of the younger crowd unlike other social networks in the past such as MySpace? The social network leader is now facing pressure from numerous sources that more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

In the past, we have been very critical of the IPO process. In 2011, the Chinese technology firms soared 100% above the IPO range and left initial public investors with considerable losses in a few months. In 2012, the social media stocks blew up after investors in the public markets paid considerably above the IPO price. In both cases, the IPO process signaled the top in these hot sectors leaving the public holding the bag as the insiders exited the firms. Now GSV Capital Corp (GSVC) allows regular investors to participate in the potential insane gains of the IPO process. Instead of needing millions of investment capital, GSV allows investors to "hire" a management team to scout out the top private investments and diversify the risk via 40+ companies. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Quick, name a mega cap stock with declining usage and trading at 32x forward earnings estimates. Don't research too long and hard, as such stocks don't exist outside the magical world of Facebook (FB). ComScore just reported that the company again saw declining usage of its service in August. With the stock valuation held up with the promises of mobile monetization, a new search tool, and eventual ability to mine all the data collected on users, the market appears to be missing that the company has lost all momentum. The leader of social media could be falling victim to the whole issue with social concepts in the first place. Quick, name a club that remains popular for more than five years, or even a restaurant that you still frequent now as often as a few years ago. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Just about every day, a company releases news regarding the mobile payments area. Unfortunately for investors with only access to the public markets, the news tends to be from a private company and more importantly, the focus is usually on Square. For investors, a few opportunities exist via PayPal, a division of eBay Inc. (EBAY) and Intuit (INTU) . See original article from April regarding the different investment options. PayPal appears to have the best plan, but do investors get enough exposure from an investment in eBay with a market cap of $64B? Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After reporting earnings on Wednesday night, Yelp (YELP) soared nearly 20% over the next two trading days. Why did this social media play jump while so many others have been falling to lows? The company connects people with great local businesses via more than 30M local reviews and approximately 78M unique visitors during Q2 2012. The main reason for the surge is that Yelp reported stronger revenue numbers that led to a solid EBITDA beat. The company also successively talked about the potential of mobile monetization though the actual results were immaterial. In reality, the company appears to have the same issues as Facebook (FB) so far. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Recent spin-off TripAdvisor (TRIP) [see Spin-Off Mania Benefits Alert Investors] had possibly the most disappointing Q4'11 earnings report reviewed so far. The spin-off from Expedia (EXPE) offered huge potential as it became independent from the bigger corporation. TripAdvisor provides a travel research platform which aggregates reviews and opinions of members about destinations, accommodations, restaurants and activities throughout the world. In a way, the travel version of IPO filer Yelp (YELP) and recent IPO Angie's List (ANGI). With 50M monthly users and expanding Facebook interaction, TripAdvisor appeared to provide huge earnings growth potential. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Any investor paying attention should know this last week was the busiest IPO week in the U.S. in years. The slate was headlined by well-known Facebook game maker Zynga (ZNGA), with secondary focus on Jive Software (JIVE) and luxury retailer Michael Kors (KORS). The rest of the IPO's had limited focus. Already knowing the issues with Zynga are similar to Groupon (GRPN) and Angie's List (ANGI), we quickly zipped past that offering (dropped 5% on first trading day Friday). Read Why Angie's List Shouldn't Be Listing for more details. MIchael Kors is interesting as well, but the stock looks pricey and investors already have plenty of luxury retailers to buy. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Amazing to see a stock liftoff to a all time high in this market, but Panera Bread (PNRA) achieved that feat today. After a rocky summer, PNRA has rocked higher. The below 3 year chart sure suggests how individual stock picking can easily beat index funds. Of course this isn't a stock that I've ever owned. PNRA has never seemed like the stock with a catalyst for this type of growth nor one worth a 25 forward PE, but clearly I've been very wrong. Congrats to all the longs that have held on. While all the high flying internet stocks especially the recent IPOs like Groupon (GRPN) have been crushed, PNRA keeps creeping higher. Very impressive chart. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.

Angie's List (ANGI) offers independent reviews of local service providers via its subscription-based web platform since it was founded in 1995. At first glance, ANGI provides a more proprietary system with a defensible moat than fellow internet listings of Groupon (GRPN) that recently listed or Zynga (ZNGA) that is in the process of listing. ANGI would appear to be a more attractive investment. After all, the company has a long history of service provider reviews that a new service could never match. Knowing the work history of a contractor over the last 5-10 years has to be invaluable and this kind of information would prevent any startup from matching the Angie's List's offerings. Conversely, a new startup has the potential to offer a better daily deal than GRPN or a better Facebook game than Zynga. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions. R ead the disclaimer page for more details.