How Analysts Are Massively Changing Views on Twitter After Earnings

Media

Published: February 14, 2016 10:40 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 1:12 pm

When Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) reported its fourth-quarter financials on Wednesday, they pretty much disappointed across the board. User growth remains stagnant, interaction is flat and, while revenues are up quarter over quarter, the company continues to lose money.

Shareholder sentiment is weak to negative, and markets are questioning the ability of CEO Jack Dorsey to turn the ship around. There are suggestions that this may be the beginning of the end for the 140-character platform.

24/7 Wall St. has collected analyst calls following this earnings release, and there is a broad range of reactions to the report. However in most cases, the price targets were lowered. We also included some brief highlights from the report.

This social media giant had $0.16 in earnings per share (EPS) on $710 million in revenue, which compared to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $0.12 in EPS on revenue of $709.94 million. In the same period of the previous year, Twitter posted EPS of $0.12 and $479.08 million in revenue.

Total average monthly active users (MAUs) were 320 million in the fourth quarter, up 9% year over year. Mobile MAUs represented roughly 80% of total MAUs.

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Analysts weighed in on Twitter:

Baird has a Neutral rating and lowered its price target price to $18 from $32.
Barclays has an Equal Weight rating and lowered its price target from $33 to $19.
Bernstein has a Market Perform rating and dropped its price target to $19 from $33.
BMO Capital Markets has a Market Perform rating and lowered its price target price to $18 from $32.
Canaccord Genuity has a Buy rating and lowered its price target from $25 to $23.
CLSA has an Underperform rating and lowered its price target to $17 from $19.
Cowen has a Market Perform rating and cut its price target to $16 from $17.
Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating and lowered its price target to $25 from $40.
Goldman Sachs has a Buy rating and lowered its price target from $28 to $21.
Jefferies has a Buy rating and reduced its price target to $35 from $42.
JPMorgan has an Overweight rating and cut its price target to $26 from $46.
Pacific Crest lowered its rating to Sector Weight from Overweight.
RBC has a Sector Perform rating and lowered its price target to $23 from $34.
Stifel has a Sell rating and lowered its target price from $14 to $13.
SunTrust Robinson has a Buy rating and lowered its price target to $20 from $26.
Susquehanna has a Neutral rating and cut its price target to $16 from $17.
UBS has a Buy rating and lowered its price target to $30 from $36.

Shares of Twitter closed Friday at $15.88, with a consensus analyst price target of $23.05 and a 52-week trading range of $13.91 to $53.49.

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