Pivotal Upgrades Twitter, Turns Bullish On Snap

Social media companies Twitter Inc. TWTR and Snap Inc. SNAP have both experienced significant stock declines of late, and both were upgraded Friday by Pivotal Research Group. 

The Analyst

Analyst Brian Wieser upgraded Twitter from Sell to Hold and lowered the price target from $26 to $24. Wieser upgraded Snap from Hold to Buy and lowered the price target from $9 to $8.

The Thesis

The Snap upgrade may appear controversial given the platform's declining usage, Wieser said in the upgrade note. (See the analyst's track record here.) 

“However, the data we look at is showing a widening user base, although one which is collectively reducing its time on the platform. Our take is that it is not too late for management to find ways to reverse recent usage trends and generally improve monetization regardless of those usage trends," he said. 

“With ongoing experimentation, we have some faith that they should be able to do both. And at the same time, if they are unable to do so in the near term, the company could become an attractive candidate to go private with the stock’s price at current levels.”

Price Action

Twitter shares were up 3.41 percent at $27.92 premarket Friday, while Snap was up 5.43 percent higher at $7.18. 

Related Links:

Pivotal: Snap No Longer A Sell, But Stock Could Still Fall

Macquarie Downgrades Twitter, Says Valuation 'Will Likely Limit Upside'