Twitter “Can Grow” Its User Metrics – Analyst

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Twitter has been going through a rough phase lately, but now one analyst feels the micro-blogging firm can grow its user metrics, as it has plenty of positives. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey’s Robert S. Peck has maintained his Buy rating on Twitter with a price target of $38.

Plenty of positives

Peck believes that the micro-blogging firm had “near-term challenges,” but added, “We think estimates are reasonable and user metrics have at least stabilized and can grow following catalysts.” Peck notes a few positives for the company, such as management team being in place and executing, stabilizing MAUs, and few others.

Twitter recently named Jack Dorsey as its CEO and Adam Bain as COO. Anthony Noto continues to head financial matters, while Omid Kordestani has been appointed chairman, which Peck notes as a “great addition.” Last week, Dorsey announced plans to give a third of his stake to employees. Peck sees this as “a strong commitment to the long-term vision and to the team he has put in place.”

For the third quarter, Twitter is expected to post MAU of over 3 million, compared to 2 million in the second quarter. Though there have been concerns about Instagram’s rising popularity impacting Twitter’s growth, SunTrust “doesn’t expect any near term impact to Twitter MAU’s, expecting several million net adds this quarter.”

To push its revenues further, the micro-blogging firm has come up with or is working on many new monetization initiatives, such as the eCommerce Buy Button, Twitter Audience Platform, Doubleclick, better targeting and search integration, video ads and Carousel ad units.

Twitter Q3 – What to expect?

Twitter will report its third quarter earnings after the market close on Tuesday. Overall, analysts expect the micro-blogging firm to post adjusted earnings per share of 5 cents compared to 1 cent per share last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect revenue to come in at $559.8 million compared to $361.3 million for the same quarter last year. For the third quarter, Twitter expects revenue and earnings to be at or above its guidance of $545 million to $560 million and $110 million to $115 million, respectively.

Over the past three months, Twitter shares have fallen 17% compared to just 2% for the S&P 500. During August’s market correction, Twitter’s stock dropped sharply to fall below its IPO price for the first time. The shares were on a fall when the company was searching for a new CEO, but since Dorsey’s appointment on Oct. 5, they have been trending upward.

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