Why Jim Cramer Is 'Leaning Towards Exiting' His Facebook Position

Facebook Inc FB is trading lower Monday amid increased scrutiny around the company’s business practices highlighted by a CBS interview with a former Facebook employee Sunday night on "60 Minutes."

Facebook has prevailed after facing multiple negative headlines over the years, but this time it feels different, Jim Cramer said Monday in a letter to members of CNBC's "Investing Club."

"We have battled negative headline after negative headline before, however, this latest story strikes us as different."

Cramer noted that he has owned Facebook shares in his charitable trust for a long time with a cost basis of around $60 per share. 

"The culture needs to change at Facebook, and if they cannot fix themselves then we would expect to see even more calls, louder calls, for increased regulation on the platform, and regulation is never good for business," Cramer said. 

The one thing that Facebook has going for it is that it's cheap based on its earnings multiple, he noted. Facebook trades at about 25 times earnings, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Earnings estimates for Facebook may have already been negatively impacted as a result of Apple Inc.'s AAPL new privacy settings, Cramer warned. Facebook's growth rate may be "poised to decelerate significantly" based on the challenges the company is facing, he added. 

"This story is so challenging that we are currently leaning towards exiting our position altogether," Cramer concluded. He told members of the "Investing Club" that he thinks there are better opportunities in the market beyond Facebook. 

See Also: Look At These Huge Facebook Call Options Amid Website, App Outage

FB Price Action: Facebook has traded as high as $384.33 and as low as $244.61 over a 52-week period.

The stock was down 5.41% at $324.29 at the time of publication Monday. 

Photo: Coffee Bean from Pixabay.