The Social Media Stock That

Barron’s has an interesting article today about Ancestry.com (Nasdaq: ACOM), a social media stock that has been rising fast of late.

Ancestry is a family-genealogy website that gives users the tools to track their lineage, create family trees and browse old documents such as their great-grandparents’ marriage license or their father’s draft registration. So far the site has helped 29 million users create family trees. The stock has had similar success.

Ancestry.com’s stock is up 29% in 2012 and 75% since a favorable Barron’s magazine story in June 2010. The social media stock debuted in November 2009, has a market capitalization of $1.3 billion, and is currently trading at $30.25.

What has really boosted the stock is Ancestry.com’s ties to the popular TV show “Who Do You Think You Are.” The weekly show connects celebrities with their lineages much like the site does. A new season of the show starts next Friday, February 2, which should help bring some publicity for Ancestry.com.

That should be good for the stock. Last year ACOM hit a 52-week high of $45.79 a share in late April after the “Who Do You Think You Are” season concluded. Perhaps the stock is in for a similar bump this season.