What happened
Shares of Snap Inc. (SNAP 3.55%) were up 6.1% as of 3:00 p.m. EDT Thursday after the Snapchat parent became the recipient of yet another (mostly) positive analyst note.
So what
More specifically, Piper Jaffray analyst Samuel Kemp initiated coverage on Snap stock with a neutral rating and a $23-per-share price target -- a modest premium from Snap's closing price of $21.84 on Wednesday. Kemp elaborated that Snap is attractive to advertisers given its "unique communications model that funnels interactions to a narrower number of relationships," which in turn results in higher-quality content.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
Even so, Kemp warned that Snap's narrow focus leaves it susceptible to disruption by "copycat competition," which is why he prefers to watch its progress from the sidelines for now.
Now what
Kemp's initiation followed Snap's first two buy recommendations earlier this week. The first came on Monday from Monness Crespi Hardt analyst James Cakmak, who argued it should be able to continue to outgrow competitors and that there is "more to Snap than many suggest." And the second arrived yesterday from Drexel Hamilton's Brian White, who called Snap a "very unique tech company" whose platform cemented its status as "an early pioneer in the rise of augmented reality."
In the end, whether Snap can sustain this momentum going forward remains to be seen. But with shares up nearly 18% so far this week as of this writing, Snap investors have every right to celebrate given Wall Street's encouraging words.
