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Snap nears $24 debut after flurry of analysts, including Goldman, initiate coverage
Snap (SNAP) shares soared Monday, hovering around the $24 level it began trading at earlier this month, after several Wall Street analysts initiated coverage on the stock, including a "buy" rating from Goldman Sachs (GS).
The parent company behind the popular disappearing messaging app Snapchat closed the day up nearly 5 percent. The stock is up 19.6 percent over the past week, according to FactSet.
Goldman said Monday that while Snap carries a higher risk profile, the firm believes it also comes with higher reward potential.
"With Snap's large, valuable, and highly engaged user base generating ad inventory and the monetization path in mobile now well worn, we believe the potential for outperformance as the company continues to innovate against the growing mobile opportunity outweighs those early stage risks," Goldman analyst Heath Terry said in a note to investors, giving the company a price target of $27.
On Monday, several other analysts including JPMorgan, Stifel, and Bank of America initiated coverage on the stock.
Snap: 6 'buy', 6 'sells', 4 'holds'
Goldman Sachs - (Buy)
JPMorgan - Neutral
Morgan Stanley - Overweight
Oppenheimer - Perform
Stifel - (Hold)
BofA - Neutral
Credit Suisse - Outperform
Deutsche Bank - (Buy)
RBC Capital Markets - Outperform
Cowen - Outperform
Jefferies - (Buy)
Citi - (Buy)
UBS - Neutral
JMP - Market Outperform
Monness Crespi Hardt - (Buy)
Needham - Underperform (Sell)
Atlantic Equities - Underweight (Sell)
Morningstar - (Sell)
Aegis - (Hold)
Susquehanna - (Hold)
Nomura Instinet - Reduce (Sell)
Pivotal Research - (Sell)
CFRA Research - (Hold)
FBN Securities - Sector Perform
Cantor - Underweight
MoffettNathanson - (Sell)
Mizuho - Neutral
Drexel Hamilton - (Buy)
PiperJaffray - Neutral
The latest ratings came after Snap had a rough start on Wall Street shortly after its March 2 debut, with analysts flagging the company's slowing user growth, widening losses, and lack of voting rights for outside investors. Last week, Snap stock moved higher after it snagged its first two "buy" ratings.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told the Los Angeles Times earlier this month that investors had been asking if Snapchat is the "next Facebook (FB)." Spiegel told the Los Angeles Times that Snap could become just as valuable as Facebook, though with fewer users than Facebook's massive 1.9 billion user base.
Snap 1-week chart
Source: FactSet.
—CNBC's Michael Bloom and Anita Balakrishnan, and Reuters contributed to this report.
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