What happened
As of midafternoon trading on Friday, mobile gaming platform specialist Skillz (SKLZ -0.80%) looked as if it would end the week on a bearish note. The company's shares were down by over 3%, on the back of a significant target price cut from an analyst.
So what
It's been a busy week for Skillz. On Tuesday after market hours, the company reported second-quarter earnings that contained both good and bad news. The good is that it is still growing fast, with a 50%-plus rise in sales and a top-line beat. The bad is that its headline net loss was more than twice as steep as the average analyst estimate.
Analysts have reacted to that performance largely by cutting their price targets. On Friday, the latest slicer was Stifel's Drew Crum, who took quite the ax to his; the new level is $17, down considerably from the previous $25. It's important to note, though, that Crum is still quite bullish on the stock, as he maintained his buy recommendation.
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That followed adjustments earlier in the week from two other analysts, Wedbush's Michael Pachter and RBC's Brad Erickson. They cut their price targets to $25 and $15, respectively, while keeping the existing recommendations. In Pachter's case that's outperform (read: buy) and for Erickson it's sector perform (neutral).
Now what
Basically, those prognosticators remain largely optimistic about Skillz. After all, even considerable bottom-line losses aren't unusual for young, tech-focused companies. Meanwhile, Skillz' recent revenue improvement was encouraging, and it's increasingly well positioned to grow along with the broader mobile gaming industry.
