BTIG's Rich Greenfield on Snap: "I Wouldn't Touch the Stock"
Shares of Snap fell for a second straight day Thursday, as investors continued to digest the company's latest earnings report. BTIG Analyst Rich Greenfield says he's not impressed by the company's planned redesign or the 12% stake just disclosed by China's Tencent.
"It's pretty shocking how fast this thing has unraveled," he told Cheddar in an interview.
The messaging app, which considers itself "a camera company," reported revenue of just $207 million during the third quarter, well below analyst estimates of $237 million. User growth also came in less than expected, with daily active users rising by just 5 million.
CEO Evan Spiegel also announced the company would be heavily redesigning its app to make it easier to use. Business Insdier reports that the changes include separating friend-based posts from content provided by the company's publishing partners and adding more posts from verified celebrity influencers. Snap says the overhaul will result in some short-term disruptions but hopes it will pay off in the long run.
Greenfield, though, isn't impressed.
"They're doing a huge pivot," he says. "If it works there's obviously huge potential, but there's also huge risk when you're making this big of a pivot."
The analyst last month slashed his projections for Snap's growth, saying he now expects 2018 revenue of just about $1.6 billion compared to earlier forecasts for $2.5 billion. In a research note he apologized for his earlier optimism with the hashtag #wearesorry.
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