Why Snap Stock Jumped Today – The Fool Motley

What happened

Shares of the Snapchat parent Break (NYSE: SNAP) are up today, up 5% at 11:20 am EDT, after the company unveiled a handful of new deals yesterday. Wall Street analysts were a little mixed on the news, but some improved their Snap actions in the research notes this morning.

So what

On Thursday, Snap hosted its first partner conference and unveiled a new mobile gaming platform that would be advertising-funded and free for users. The titles will include original games and third-party games from partner developers. Snap also launches eight more Snap Originals proprietary video short form videos with broadcasts that typically last only a few minutes. Snapchat will get additional Augmented Reality (RA) video filters that are not selfie centered, but instead incorporate AR technology into other types of overlays, such as famous landmarks. Snapchat will soon allow users to share stories about other third-party apps.

Source of the image: Snap.

As part of its growing advertising business, Snap announced the creation of Snap Audience Network, an ad network that allows it to run ads in other apps. The largest digital advertising companies use ad networks to expand their reach and targeting capabilities.

Now what

The instant audience network is potentially the most important ads, because the main platform of Snapchat has apparently reached a peak in terms of growth in the number of users. In the absence of user growth, the launch of an advertising network could allow Snap to continue to expand its advertising activities outside of Snapchat.

However, the reactions of the analysts have been mixed. Analysts at Morgan Stanley believe that the new offers have potential, but that "the material monetization of this new commitment is not so simple", opting for the maintenance of a sales and marketing note. a price target of $ 5.50. Stifel has a neutral rating and a target price of 10 USD, analysts claim that the ads showed that Snap could still innovate. Summit Insights upgraded Snap's held-for-sale shares while doubling its price target from $ 5 to $ 10. Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintained its neutral rating but raised its price target from $ 10 to $ 12.

Overall, analysts have been cautiously optimistic about the news, recognizing the potential while waiting to see if Snap could run.