Why Wait for IPO When You Can Buy Facebook's Friends Today?

By John Melloy Executive Producer, Fast Money & Halftime -- Anxious investors not wanting to wait for Facebook's public debut, which is expected in the second quarter, are buying up shares of companies that stand to benefit from the social-networking giant's mega-IPO.

Shares of application makers Zynga(ZNGA) have rallied 13 percent in 2012 as reports on the timing and size of the IPO began to come out. Beijing-based social network platform Renren(RENN) is up 50 percent so far this year as investors snap up global social network players. GSV Capital Corp., a major holder of private shares in Facebook, is up more than 20 percent in 2011.

"The app guys benefit hugely if Facebook ever gets serious about making money," said Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities. "They need Facebook to give users a reason to register a credit card, then purchases become 'one-click' orders. That will make it much easier to spend money."

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Zynga is the country's largest social game developer with more than 50 million daily active users on Facebook, according to AppData. The company gets most of its revenue by selling so-called virtual goods for games such as "FarmVille," "CityVille" and "Words with Friends" on Facebook. In turn, Facebook gets 12 percent of its revenue from Zynga, according to the social network's S-1 filing.

"Zynga leverages Facebook's 800 million user base to achieve viral distribution of games, which boosts user growth and minimizes sales & marketing costs," wrote Morgan Stanley's Scott Devitt in a note to clients last week. He rates Zynga "overweight" with a $14 price target.

Netflix(NFLX) is one of the more interesting derivative plays of the Facebook IPO. The streaming movie service has a Facebook app that allows users to share which movies and TV shows they are watching with their friends, and comment on them. However, it is only available internationally because the U.S. Video Privacy Protection Act, dating from the 1980s, bars companies that rent movies from sharing the viewing habits of users.

Netflix is currently lobbying for the Senate to pass a bill, which the House has already approved, that would amend this law.