Social media shares rally after Credit Suisse upgrades Facebook

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of social media companies rallied on Tuesday after Credit Suisse raised its expectations for Facebook Inc's long-term average revenue per user (ARPU), saying upcoming products would raise growth in that key metric. The firm upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "neutral" and raised its price target to $87 (51.71 pounds) from $65. Credit Suisse didn't give a new outlook for Facebook's ARPU, writing in a note to clients that its expectations for higher growth were to "layer in monetization from the company's upcoming product releases." Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that Facebook was preparing to provide mobile payment services. Shares of Facebook rose 2.9 percent to $63.05. Among other social networking names, Twitter Inc rose 1.5 percent to $46.84, LinkedIn Corp was up 1.8 percent at $180.16 and Yelp Inc rose 1.1 percent to $67.76. The Global X Social Media Index ETF rose 1.4 percent. (Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; editing by Andrew Hay)