Twitter shares continue to get hammered after the company missed badly on earnings. But the selling pressure got to be so great, it spurred one well-known trader who rarely purchases individual stocks to step in and buy.
The so-called commodities king, Dennis Gartman, broke away from his comfort zone because he just couldn't resist the value the social media giant's stock offered at these levels.
On Tuesday's "Fast Money," the publisher of The Gartman Letter said the "utter and complete irrationality" surrounding the leaked earnings had created a buying opportunity. "A stock down 20 percent in the course of two or three minutes made absolutely no sense to me," said Gartman.
Twitter's earnings report was leaked at about 3:09 p.m. ET by the technology company Selerity with a tweet that immediately shook the stock. Selerity revealed the company missed on revenue and sourced Twitter's investor relations website.
The stock immediately fell before it was then halted. But after it resumed trading, it dropped as much as 20 percent. And that's when Gartman pulled the trigger.
"We bought a little bit, we got lucky, bought it at $40.40 and I couldn't believe it less than three to four minutes later moved it at $44.04, but I came back in and bought some more back," said Gartman. "At these prices here at $41 or $42, even Twitter makes some sense."
For Gartman, the move represents simply a short-term trade and not an investment. By his own admission, he doesn't have a Twitter account, nor does he even use it to inform his views.
By Wednesday morning, Gartman had exited his Twitter position, taking advantage of intraday and moment-to-moment stock fluctuations to sell his holding.
Even with the losses in the past two sessions, shares of Twitter are up about 10 percent so far this year.