Bernstein downgrades Snap, says it's unclear what's next for the social media stock after latest earnings

Published Fri, Oct 21 20226:25 AM EDT

It's hard to say where Snap will go from here after its third-quarter results, according to Bernstein. Analyst Mark Shmulik downgraded the social media stock to market perform from outperform, after Snap reported a disappointing third-quarter revenue results and softening user engagement numbers. The analyst also lowered his price target and estimates on Snap. "With a stock down -85% over the past 12 months, suggesting that investor expectations were low going into earnings is an understatement. Yet low expectations offered no support for a company that seems to have lost all momentum," Shmulik wrote in a Friday note. The analyst lowered his price target to $9 from $15, implying downside of 16.6% from Thursday's closing price of $10.79. Shares of Snap were down more than 25% in premarket trading Friday. A possible recession has weighed on advertising revenue this year for Snap. Apple's data privacy update in 2021 that limited the ability of social media companies to track users online has continued to hurt the company. The social media company reported third-quarter revenue grew 6% from the prior year, which is the first time Snap reported single-digit growth since its IPO in 2017. "SNAP's untapped potential remains, yet we're unlikely to see near-term inflection. Winning back investor and our own confidence will take time," Shmulik added. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs reiterated its neutral rating on the social media stock, saying shares of Snap will be "range bound for the short/medium term." Morgan Stanley remained underweight on the company, saying the company is dealing with "over reliant on branded, less proven spend, high execution risk with management/strategic change" against a more challenging economic backdrop. On the other hand, Barclays reiterated an overweight rating on the stock after saying that Snap "has a long history of overcoming challenging transitions." "[We] feel confident that they can overcome the current challenges but sentiment can erode from here, before eventually improving," Barclays' Ross Sandler wrote in a Thursday note. —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.