Analyst Rich Greenfield: Snap Needs More Than Users to Survive
*By Conor White*
Snap's mixed bag on earnings points to a murky future for the Snapchat app, which may hold more promise as a messaging platform than the ad-supported content powerhouse many people expected it to be, said BTIG's media and tech analyst, Rich Greenfield.
"I think the challenge is more and more time spent feels like it's shifting to communications and away from content," Greenfield said Wednesday in an interview with Cheddar. "So their core use case is very sticky for the entire generation that uses it as their iMessage, essentially."
Optimistic investors may be heartened by Snap's revenue beat in the second quarter, but Greenfield said numbers from the company's earnings report on Tuesday are nothing to celebrate.
"I've never cut my target for a company in terms of revenues by 50 percent over a 14-month period," Greenfield said. "We thought when this company went public they would do $2.5 billion in revenue this year, they're struggling to get to the $1.1, $1.2 \[billion\] revenue this year. "
The analyst said it isn't enough to have millions of people using Snapchat as a messaging platform, since "filters don't make billions of dollars," he said.
Content is still key to Snap's future as a business, Greenfield said.
"They've got to convince people, to make this a multi-billion dollar business, they need people to spend a lot of time on the right side of the app, consuming content."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/snap-loses-daily-active-users-for-first-time-ever).
Fathom Digital Manufacturing, one of the largest on-demand digital manufacturing platforms in North America, went public late last year and serves the product development and manufacturing needs of companies such as Google, Amazon, Tesla, Johnson & Johnson, and more. CEO Ryan Martin joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss what the IPO means to the company and how he thinks digital manufacturing can help mitigate supply chain issues seen throughout the pandemic. "We can take parts that would take 4-6 weeks condense that down into just days using additive manufacturing in many cases. And so it's all about speed," he said.
Apple has revealed that the tech giant is working more on going green, reporting the use of more recycled materials than ever before. It's setting sustainability goals, aiming to cut emissions by 75 percent in the next 10 years and eventually ending the use of plastic in packaging.
Chipotle is investing $50 million into a venture capital fund to aid tech startups that focus on operations. Chief Technology Officer Curt Garner joined Cheddar News to talk about how the fast-casual chain is innovating its brand strategy with the fund. "We look for technologies that elevate the human experience, and that human experience can occur with our customers as they come into our restaurants and very importantly our employees as well," he said.
