What happened
Technology stocks had another rough day on Friday, and the biggest reason appeared to be Snap's (SNAP 2.24%) earnings report. The company said it lost $422 million in the second quarter, despite a 13% increase in revenue and an 18% increase in users. Management also said revenue is flat so far in the third quarter, meaning its growth has slowed rapidly.
The news of Snap's poor results hit a host of technology companies that could be impacted by similar trends. Asana (ASAN 5.90%) was down by as much as 10.6% during the session, Unity (U 0.92%) dropped by as much as 10.9%, DocuSign (DOCU 1.56%) fell 6%, and HubSpot (HUBS 2.96%) dropped 7.6%. The stocks ended the day down 9.9%, 9.7%, 4.5%, and 5.8%, respectively.
So what
There are a couple of factors impacting the market broadly. One is that we're clearly seeing a pullback in advertising spending. This could be due to the user-tracking transparency changes put in place by Apple last year, or it could be companies cutting spending in anticipation of slowdowns in their businesses.
Declines in the effectiveness of advertising could be harming spending as well, which may impact a company like Unity, which is trying to expand its advertising business in gaming.
If companies are cutting back on advertising, which attracts new customers, it makes sense they may also be looking to reduce their spending on tech subscriptions from companies like Asana, DocuSign, and HubSpot. These stocks have had major tailwinds behind them as companies went remote and attempted to automate more tasks, but now their clients may be more carefully scrutinizing every dollar they spend.
The market saw all of this as enough reason to sell off tech stocks broadly Friday. Keep in mind that one earnings report doesn't make a trend, but this Snap's report wasn't a great sign early in this earnings season.
Now what
Growth expectations are being adjusted for companies across the market. For example, Snap's stock value looks very different if the company is growing its top line at a double-digit percentage rate versus revenue being flat. As expectations come down, so do share prices.
But I think there's a short-term bias to a lot of these moves. Each of these companies has valuable products in the market, and they'll adapt and change how they sell and grow over time. That may mean charging more for products, and it may mean cutting expenses. But I still think technology stocks, and software-as-a-service stocks specifically, have a lot going for them -- even in this market.
If you're a long-term investor, this looks like a great opportunity to start accumulating stocks that might previously have been too expensive.
