SINA Rides China Social Media & Microblogging Growth Bandwagon

This may be a mixed blessing, but the number of mobile posts has now passed its desktop use.  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) devices using iOS amounted to roughly 33% of Weibo’s mobile traffic.

SINA’s growth news comes at a great time, because shares were only about 10% above the 52-week low.  After closing at $51.68, and against a 52-week trading range of $46.86 to $128.17, shares are trading up 11% at $57.57.

The news is interesting because the company warned that future results might be dragged down because of the increased investment in Weibo.  The company even noted that another operational loss may be expected in the second quarter. Another warning was that the Chinese advertising market is expected to remain weak.

As a reminder, SINA makes up more than 8% of the current weighting in the Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ: SOCL).

Shares of Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN), which is called the Facebook-equivalent of China, are up 4.5% at $5.84 this morning.  RenRen makes up almost 4.2% of the Social Media ETF.

JON C. OGG