One Wall Street analyst says Snap is an ‘excellent buying opportunity’

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Snap, the parent company of messaging app Snapchat, reported earnings and daily active user numbers that disappointed investors and sent the stock crashing 21.5% on Thursday.

But, Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White thinks the selloff is a “excellent buying opportunity.” In a note circulated on Friday, Hamilton urged clients to keep their conviction in the stock and to buy more shares.

White reiterated his “Buy” rating and $30.00 price target for Snap, implying a huge upside opportunity of 66%.

White said that while investors live in a world of short-term quarter-to-quarter earnings expectations, management at Snap is planning years ahead, not quarters. He says that Snap’s focus on the future reminds him of Apple in its early days.

While some say that investing in Snap would be a mistake due to the potential for “copycats,” White disagrees. “We view Snap as an original in the camera App world and this authenticity will be tough for competitors to successfully replicate in the eyes of millennialsm,” White wrote. “Moreover, Snap fosters a culture of creativity and a management team that holds the long-term vision necessary to nurture the innovation engine that we believe can create long-lasting value for shareholders.”

White believes that while Wall Street may not have been impressed by Snap’s first quarterly report as a publicly traded company, the numbers reported were still very impressive.

“Sales surged by 286% in 1Q:17, ARPU increased by a sharp 181% YoY and DAU grew by a strong 36%,” White said.
“Moreover, user engagement continued to increase with over 3B Snaps created per day in 1Q:17 (vs. over 2.5B in 4Q:16), with users spending over 30 minutes per day on Snapchat.”

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