Twitter has been struggling with multiple key executives departing, and now three more are exiting. As a result, the micro-blogging platform has earned a downgrade from at least one firm and a price target cut from at least one other. Analysts have been cautious on the stock for quite some time amid concerns about slowing user growth.
Will more execs leave the Twitter nest?
In a report dated Jan. 24, Stifel analyst Scott Devitt and team said they don’t see any way that the departures of three more Twitter executives could possibly be seen as a good thing. Product chief Kevin Weil, media head Katie Stanton and engineering head Alex Roetter are all leaving.
witter is also planning to appoint some new directors, one of who is described as a “high-profile media personality. Also a new Chief Marketing Officer will be coming in to take over the marketing responsibilities from Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto.
The Stifel team upgraded the company after its third quarter earnings results because at that time, they believed that it might finally be focused on fixing its products and strategies. They believe that Weil, Stanton and Roetter won’t be the only key executives to leave Twitter in the near future.
Twitter price target cut
SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Robert Peck and team said in a report dated Jan. 25 that they have cut their price target on Twitter from $34 to $26 per share. They noted that the latest raft of departures will leave about 66% of the executives who made presentations to investors at the company’s Analyst Day. Despite the price target cut and the executive exits, they still see an “interesting opportunity for investors” in Twitter.
Explaining their contrarian call, they wrote that it appears monthly active users are stabilizing. They added that new products might help user growth. Also they believe management’s execution has improved although there is still room for improvement. Further, they said there has been a number of positive catalysts. They also think the current expectations are “reasonable” as the bar has been set quite low.
Shares of Twitter fell by as much as 3.42% to $17023 per share during regular trading hours today.
