Twitter gets a big upgrade from SunTrust analyst Robert Peck
SunTrust analyst Robert Peck is upgrading the stock to a "buy" with a $38 price target.
Twitter shares closed at $26.84 last Friday, which is right near the IPO price of $26. The stock is up 2.5% in pre-market trading this morning.
Peck has been the analyst on Twitter, so his upgrade is noteworthy.
Peck rationale upgrading the stock: He thinks things can't get worse, he expects new management, and new products are coming which should pump some life into the stock.
Here are the bullets from Peck's note:
He expects Twitter will announce Jack Dorsey as CEO, Evan Williams as Chairman, and Adam Bain as President in the next week or two.
While many investors are skeptical of Dorsey since he is also CEO of Square, Peck thinks Dorsey, a cofounder of Twitter, will be inspirational for employees.
Williams is also a cofounder, and he's built blogger, Twitter, and is currently at Medium, which is sleek blogging software. He should help with product development for Twitter.
Bain is a well-liked sales executive for Twitter both internally and externally. So, a promotion is in order. (Plus, he's in the running to be CEO. If he gets passed over, a promotion could help smooth things.)
In terms of new products, Twitter has "Project Lightning" coming in a few weeks which will focus on big events and will theoretically increase engagement for the Twitter app. It will curate the best tweets around a certain topic making Twitter a more user-friendly service.
In terms of the board, Dick Costolo is likely out by the end of the year, along with other, less than helpful board members.