After Snap stock crash, Wall Street analysts see more pain ahead

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Pedestrians pass in front of Snap Inc. signage displayed on the exterior of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in New York, U.S., on Thursday, March 2, 2017.

Shares of social media company Snap plummeted by 20 percent Wednesday following disappointing earnings, and Wall Street still sees room on the downside.

The company significantly missed revenue estimates in its latest report and said its next quarter year-over-year revenue growth rate will “decelerate substantially,” partially due to ad prices. The company also missed analysts target for daily active users, and revenue per user.

As a result, multiple firms published bearish notes and knocked down their price targets for Snap’s stock.

Morgan Stanley dropped its price target to $8, about $6 below where the stock closed Tuesday, and remains “underweight.” Snap was trading around $11 near the open on Wednesday.

“1Q:18 miss and forward ad commentary speak to continued challenges SNAP faces in turning its business model around,” Morgan Stanley Equity Analyst Brian Nowak said in a note to clients Wednesday.

Nowak cited user churn, the bungled app redesign, poor performance on Androids, and advertiser concerns as headwinds analysts expect to continue into the second quarter.

Analysts at Piper Jaffray were “skeptical” after the results with an $11.50 price target, citing leadership, and competition from Instagram could add the pain.

“Snap is a poorly structured company that is demonstrating a clear pattern of mismanagement,” Piper Jaffray analyst Sam Kemp said in a note to clients. “We think the negative news cycle around Snap will continue and advertisers will likely continue to approach Snap skeptically.”

Analysts at Deutsche bank were also bearish, and kept a $12 price target with a “hold” rating.

“Snapchat risks losing its ‘cool’ status with users frustrated by the redesign, which makes advertisers increasingly unlikely to put money into Snap advertising without clear ROI returns,”
Research Analyst at Deutsche Bank Markets Research Lloyd Walmsley said in a note to clients Wednesday.

“We think Snap is a ‘show me’ stories to advertisers (and investors), and has to move fast to change the narrative, particularly given its cash burn levels,” Walmsley said.

Credit Suisse dropped its price target from $21 to $16, still above where the stock was trading Wednesday. While analysts there called it a “conviction-testing” quarter, they maintained their “outperform” rating.

“As shares have already retraced back almost all of the gains, we elect to maintain our Outperform rating for now given the upside potential but acknowledge that further patience may be required,” said Stephen Ju, research analyst at Deutsche Bank.