Snap Falls After Cowen Downgrade

By Sam Boughedda

Investing.com — Shares of Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) are down more than 3.7% Thursday after Cowen analyst John Blackledge downgraded the stock to market perform from outperform.

In addition, Blackledge lowered his price target to $45 from $75. Snap shares are currently trading around the $41 mark.

The analyst told investors in a note that there are near-term concerns, driven by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s iOS 14.5 changes that could impact the company's analytics, such as measurement, targeting and attribution, in relation to ad units.

The company faces difficult comparisons in the first half of this year with its current valuation remaining elevated.

Blackledge told investors that the primary reason for the firm's January 2020 upgrade to outperform was its "multi-year proprietary checks showing rising adoption of SNAP's direct response (DR) advertising units, which now comprise >50% of ad revenue."

However, he added that "the 3Q21 print showed that SNAP DR was not immune to negative impacts of iOS 14.5 / IDFA changes and we are concerned SNAP may have to continue to navigate through them in the coming quarters based on our recent ad buyer survey."

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