Snap stock climbed by more than 6% on Wednesday after another analyst gave it a firm vote of confidence. The Snapchat parent company received its second Buy rating paired with an even higher price target than the one that accompanied its first. Meanwhile, another analyst reported today that Snapchat is beating Twitter among advertisers. Despite that, even Twitter is on the rise today.
Coverage of Snap stock initiated at Buy
In a research note dated March 21, Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White said he initiated coverage of Snap stock with a Buy rating and $30 price target, which is even higher than the all-time high of $29.44 set in the first few trading days. He described the company as “a very unique tech company that should not be pigeonholed in a particular industry.” In fact, White’s review of Snap stock appeared generally more positive than the one from Monness Crespi Hardt, the first to rate the shares a Buy.
He also noted that the company markets itself as a “camera company,” which he believes “fosters a mindset for innovation to transcend the boundaries of its competitors.” White also described the Snapchat parent company as “a platform for the imagination that unlocks the creativity of its users and allows uninhibited expression with friends.”
Millennials and augmented reality
He emphasized that Snapchat ended last year with 158 million average daily active users and noted that it’s very popular with Millennials, which he says are “the most desirable, largest and most difficult to reach generation for advertisers.” He feels it will be difficult for other social networks to capture the popularity Snapchat has among members of the generation.
White also highlighted Snap’s efforts in the area of augmented reality through its Spectacles product, which he said makes it an “early pioneer” in the technology. He sees lots of potential opportunities for monetization via mobile advertising. He notes that Snap users do need a high-end smartphone and a high-speed mobile network to use all of the features, and needless to say, a lot of the world has a lot of catching up to do in these areas.
He named India and China as potential strongholds for the company in the future because of their sizable Millennial populations, but as of now, these countries don’t have what it takes for Snap to become huge there. Nonetheless, he sees opportunities for the company there in the next three to five years.
Snap outperforming Twitter?
Needham analyst Laura Martin also released some positive data on Snapchat, although she continues to rate Snap stock at Underperform. She said in a research note that she had met with a major advertising agency CEO who has spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” in advertising on social networks. While Facebook remains the go-to social network for advertisers based on its scale and superior data, targeting and ad inventory options, she said Snap seems to have overtaken Twitter.
She added that it’s still “too early” to determine the return on investment advertisers are getting on Snap or how fast its growth will be, especially because Facebook keeps “commoditizing” its best ideas. However, her source also said that Twitter had damaged its relationships with brand advertisers during the fourth quarter by placing their ads next to content that was controversial. Then the micro-blogging platform didn’t disclose its mistake or let the brands cancel their “spending commitments,” Martin’s source told her.
She did see plenty of things that would be good for Snap stock and for the company in general as it tries to catch up with incumbent players in the social media space. However, she also saw some negatives about advertising on Snapchat, like the fact that the company only sells vertical ads. As a result, advertisers have to either edit their ads to fit or just not advertise on Snapchat, making it potentially more expensive to make ads for Snap.
Shares of Snap stock soared by as much as 6.43% to $21.69 during regular trading hours on Wednesday.
