Facebook generated excitement last week when its earnings release showed growth in mobile ad revenue and got investors excited that its mobile strategy is starting to pay off.

“The migration from desktop to mobile looked like a threat a year ago,” Kevin Landis, CIO of Firsthand Funds, told CNBC. “Now it looks like it plays to their advantage, particularly when you bring in the idea of new Facebook Home.”

With more than 1 billion people already socializing and few competitors, Facebook can build something “really awesome,” Landis said.

(Read More: Facebook ‘Isn’t Cool,’ and That’s Actually OK )

But in the Internet space, Facebook stock still isn’t Wall Street analysts’ favorite name. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney, who has said “mobile monetization at Facebook can work,” calls the stock just a “small buy.”

He has a $32 price target on Facebook, but said Netflix (NFLX), Amazon.com (AMZN), Google (GOOG), and even Priceline (PCLN) have more upside.

Ken Sena of Evercore Partners also believes Facebook looks expensive. “Facebook increasingly seems to be a media and communications platform,” he said. “What most investors bought into was somewhat of a marketplace.”

Sena prefers Google.

Microsoft ‘Keeps Coming’

Although Microsoft’s mobile platform hasn’t gained much traction and its search business lags that of Google, some analysts think investors shouldn’t write the stock off yet.

“Our ‘buy’ thesis has been predicated on the enterprise business, which is a very strong recurring business at Microsoft,” UBS analyst Brent Thill told CNBC.

Ed Maguire, an analyst at CLSA, agrees.

“What I think investors are waking up to is the underlying value of enterprise business which has been outgrowing its peers and has a lot of momentum,” he said in a separate interview. “It’s this combination of software and services that’s really powerful and leading their larger customers to commit to longer-term deals.”

Microsoft isn’t ignoring its consumer businesses either, Thill said.

“We believe they’re addressing the downfalls of Windows 8 in an aggressive manner,” the UBS analyst said. And with Microsoft anticipating that nearly half of PCs in the developed market will be touch enabled by the holidays, there could be renewed interest in Windows 8 toward the end of the year.

Microsoft also has a new XBox coming for the holiday season.

(Read More: The New Xbox: What to Expect From Microsoft’s New Console )

Both Thill and Maguire see Microsoft shares reaching the low $30 range in the next 12 months. That implies more than 15 percent upside after a 25 percent run this year.

“They’re not dead yet,” CLSA’s Maguire said of the software giant. “They keep coming and coming and coming again. And investors may underestimate that.”

-By CNBC’s Justin Menza . Follow him on Twitter @JustinMenza.

The benchmark index hit a new intraday high in the last minutes of trading, following a session that was largely marked by slight moves as investors found few reasons to extend recent gains.

Technology shares led the day’s advance, contributing to the Nasdaq’s sharp gain.

Encouraging data on home prices and consumer confidence added to the day’s positive tone, though a decline in regional business activity underlined the growth concerns that remain.

“Even though the overall backdrop isn’t overly positive, the market has a strong underlying bid, where it wants to go up on earnings and the Federal Reserve having our back with policy,” said Michael Mullaney, chief investment officer of Fiduciary Trust Co in Boston.

Apple (AAPL.O) rose 2.9 percent to $442.78 after coming to market with the largest non-bank bond sale in history as it seeks funding to return cash to shareholders. The tech giant has been one of the biggest drags on the S&P 500 this year, falling nearly 17 percent in 2013.

U.S. home prices rose in February at their fastest rate in almost seven years while consumer confidence rebounded in April. However, business activity in the U.S. Midwest unexpectedly contracted in April to its lowest level since September 2009.

The S&P 500 closed out its sixth straight month of gains, its longest winning streak since September 2009, as investors used any pullback as a buying opportunity.

“There’s more good news than bad news, and the bad news isn’t enough to disrupt the uptrend we’ve been in,” said Steve Sosnick, equity-risk manager at Timber Hill/Interactive Brokers Group in Greenwich, Connecticut.

About 6.55 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, above the daily average so far this year of about 6.36 billion shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 21.05 points, or 0.14 percent, to 14,839.80 at the close. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) rose 3.96 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,597.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 21.77 points, or 0.66 percent, to close at 3,328.79.

Equities continue to draw support from expectations that central banks will maintain low interest rates and other economic stimulus measures. A statement from the Federal Reserve due Wednesday is expected to keep in place the central bank’s pace of bond buying to stimulate the economy.

The European Central Bank will meet on Thursday. A Reuters poll of economists showed policymakers are expected to cut interest rates.

For the month of April, both the Dow and the S&P 500 rose 1.8 percent while the Nasdaq gained 1.9 percent.

The S&P 500 is up about 12 percent so far this year, contributing to concerns that a correction may be forthcoming.

“If the market continues at the pace it has been at, we’ll end 2013 with gains of 43 percent; there’s no way that will happen,” said Mullaney, who helps oversee about $9.5 billion. “That means we’ll either pull back or trade sideways for an extended period. Our bet is that we’ll see weakness this summer.”

Pfizer (PFE.N) shares weighed on the Dow industrials after the drugmaker posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, and trimmed its full-year profit outlook. Pfizer’s stock fell 4.5 percent to $29.07.

With 306 S&P 500 components having reported results so far, 68.6 percent have beaten expectations, exceeding the average since 1994 of 63 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Only 44 percent of companies have beaten revenue expectations, well under the long-term average of 62 percent.

Best Buy (BBY.N) retreated from its ill-fated European expansion by selling its stake in a joint venture to Carphone Warehouse Group (CPW.L) for less than half what it paid five years ago. Shares jumped 7.4 percent to $25.99.

Shares of security software maker Symantec Corp (SYMC.O) dropped 10 percent in a span of a few seconds before trading was halted. Equity traders called the move another single-stock “flash crash,” in reference to the May 2010 selloff when the Dow fall more than 600 points in a matter of minutes. Symantec fell 1.2 percent to $24.30.

About 64 percent of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange closed in positive territory while 58 percent of Nasdaq-listed shares closed higher.

TTHI – New 52-wk High

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=TTHI

Transition Therapeutics Inc. engages in developing therapeutics for various disease indications primarily in Canada.

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PTIE – Volume Alert

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=PTIE

Pain Therapeutics, Inc. develops novel medicines.

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DRRX – Volume Alert

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DRRX

DURECT Corporation’s mission is to develop therapies that will improve the quality of life for patients with chronic diseases and other medical conditions.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.MIAPJ0000PUS was little changed, after reaching its highest since mid-March on Thursday.

Europe’s top shares rose for the fifth straight session on Thursday, underpinned by expectations of a rate cut by the European Central Bank at its meeting next week, but the euro hovered near a three-week low of $1.2954, easing 0.1 percent to $1.3002 early in Asia on Friday.

The U.S. government reported on Thursday that new claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected, providing some relief to investors after a recent series of weak data. The labor market report comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy-making meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the closely watched monthly payrolls report for April on May 3.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average .N225 opened up 0.4 percent after hitting its highest since June 2008 on Thursday. Japanese financial markets will be closed on Monday for a holiday. .T

“It’s ahead of a long weekend and we have U.S. GDP and Japanese earnings. So a lot of investors may want to wait for them before buying more,” said Masayuki Doshida, senior market analyst at Rakuten Securities, of Japanese stocks.

Although it is still early in the quarterly reporting season, only two out of the 16 Nikkei companies that have reported so far beat market expectations, data from Thomson Reuters StarMine showed.

Overnight U.S. S&P 500 .INX rose 0.4 percent, driven by stronger-than-expected earnings and the large drop in weekly jobless claims.

Australian shares .AXJO were up 0.2 percent and South Korean shares .KS11 opened down 0.1 percent. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s (005930.KS) quarterly profits beat expectations, underpinning sentiment after the better-than-forecast U.S. earnings.

Expectations for monetary stimulus helped risk asset markets rebound from a sharp sell-off earlier this month, triggered by disappointing U.S. and Chinese manufacturing data which raised concerns about slowing momentum in the world’s top two economies.

“Markets are experiencing cross-asset differentiation following softer global activity data in April. This mainly reflects the repricing of slower Chinese growth and expectations of very easy monetary policy in G4,” Barclays Capital said in a research.

“We continue to favor overweight positions in developed market equities but are less constructive on emerging markets equities.”

The Bank of Japan will likely project that it will meet its 2 percent inflation target in two years at a one-day meeting on Friday.

The BOJ on April 4 shocked financial markets by announcing a radical monetary expansion campaign aimed at ending stubborn deflation and revive growth. The central bank’s strong reflationary policy commitment has further weakened the yen and underpinned the dollar, lifting it close to the symbolic 100 yen mark earlier this month.

But the recent weak U.S. data has slowed the dollar’s progress. It was trading at 99.35 yen early on Friday.

U.S. crude was down 0.4 percent at $93.26 a barrel. <O/R>

Spot gold was up 0.4 percent at $1,472.56 an ounce, recovering much of the loss it incurred in the massive sell-off two weeks ago. <GOL/>

GGS – Volume Alert
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=GGS
Global Geophysical Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated suite of seismic data solutions to the oil and gas industry worldwide.

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MPG – News
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MPG
MPG Office Trust, Inc. enters into agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of Brookfield Office Properties Inc.

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RBY – Breakout
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=RBY
Rubicon Minerals Corporation engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold and base-metal properties in Canada and the United States.

With the WhereverTV App, subscribers to GreekTV, ArabicTV and 2M Maroc now have the freedom to watch live programming portably on Apple devices, while providing yet another option in delivering content to TV sets through AirPlay (http://www.apple.com/airplay/) and AppleTV (http://www.apple.com/appletv/ ). The WhereverTV App also features a channel guide that allows users to simultaneously browse and change channels while watching television. 

General Electric (GE.N), down 2.1 percent to $21.29 and McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N), off 1.2 percent to $98.66, extended losses from Friday after posting lackluster earnings. Both stocks were declining for the fourth straight day.

Wall Street is coming off a week of extreme volatility, with the CBOE Volatility index .VIX jumping 24 percent, the biggest weekly gain for the so-called fear index this year. The index was up 2.5 percent on Monday.

The swings were largely driven by weak corporate earnings and signs of slowing growth from China, which led to a steep drop in commodity prices. The week’s decline fueled talk that the market’s long anticipated pullback had arrived, though the S&P remains up nearly 9 percent on the year.

Caterpillar (CAT.N) reported disappointing quarterly results and cut its 2013 profit forecast. Its stock advanced 0.6 percent to $80.92 after bullish comments from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman.

Halliburton (HAL.N), the oil field services company, rose 2.6 percent to $38.19 after the company posted quarterly results and said it is in talks to settle private claims against it in a trial.

“This is all going to be very much a direction driven by earnings,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

“The majors are only off 3 to 4 percent from the high but we have done that fairly efficiently and if earnings are any indication, there is going to be more choppy action ahead.”

Earnings also due on Monday included Texas Instruments (TXN.O) and Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) after the market’s close. For the week, 168 companies in the S&P 500 .SPX are scheduled to report earnings.