Twitter’s stock was downgraded from “hold” to “sell” by Zacks Investment Research on Wednesday, although hope of improved future performance was also expressed, as reported by Cerbat Gem Market News:
According to Zacks, “Twitter is struggling to expand its user base. Its once reliable ad business is also showing signs of a slowdown after Twitter said that “brand marketers did not increase spend as quickly as expected in the first quarter.”
The company has been taking up several measures to attract more users and revenues. The company has recently signed steaming deals with CBS and Bloomberg and is reportedly holding talks with sports leagues like NBA to acquire sports related content. Earlier on, it had won rights to stream NFL.
We continue to believe that Twitter’s ability to attract users and grow advertising revenues amid significant competition will be a key factor determining its growth, considering the fact that investments in product development need to continue. Estimates have been stable lately ahead of the company’s second quarter earnings release.
Cerbat Gem offers a lengthy history of Twitter stock purchases, sales, and fluctuations, which would suggest it was turning things around last spring after a string of disappointing quarters. Ongoing censorship controversies aren’t likely to help expand that user base.
On that score, the latest shipment of grief to come Twitter’s way was delivered by WikiLeaks:
This led to an exchange with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey:
Work faster, Mr. Dorsey. Maybe a good start would be refraining from sucking up to celebrities by banning people who annoy them.