SunTrust Becomes the First Firm to Weigh in on Twitter; Rates With a Buy and $50 PT

Early this morning SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Robert Peck initiated Twitter (TWTR) with a Buy rating and $50 price target. The valuation gives Twitter a 16x forward multiple on revenue, and an 80x forward multiple on EBITA. In the report, Peck focuses not on Twitter as an advertising platform, but as a real time tool for people's interests, positioning it uniquely to be both a polling tool and communication tool at the same time. Revenues were also a focus, with 100 percent expected growth being highlighted as a strength. The report stated that its 215 million active users proved it had "crossed the chasm", a term for tech companies reaching the maturity of continued growth and revenue. At present time, it is still unclear what exchange Twitter will list with, but its speculated the company could go public as soon as early November.