In May, Snap lowered financial forecasts it had issued in April.
Dreamstime
When Snap reports its second-quarter results, investors will be watching closely to see how badly the weakening economy is affecting advertising at Snap
chat, the social-media platform. That, in turn, will offer a window on the outlook for Meta Platforms , the owner of Facebook.
Concern that a recession is on its way and the continuing challenge of adjusting to Apple ’s 2021 move to beef up privacy by making it harder for advertisers to track people’s actions online have weighed on Snap (SNAP) stock this year. The stock is down 75% in the past 12 months, though it rose 9.6% to close at $15.51 on Wednesday.
In May, the company slashed its financial forecasts, pointing to a worsening economy. It said its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization would likely come in below the range of zero to $50 million management had told investors to expect in April.
For the second quarter, analysts polled by FactSet forecast a net loss of 20 cents a share and sales of $1.14 billion. Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion, who rates Snap stock at Neutral with an $18 price target, wrote Monday he believes the economic situation is weighing on ad pricing. He estimates the average cost of a thousand ad views in the U.S. fell 14% in the second quarter from the first quarter. In Europe, he estimates declines were 30%.
“So far in July, it’s possible EU declines have slowed while US declines may have accelerated,” Champion wrote.
Champion thinks the company’s third-quarter outlook will be a key focus, adding that consensus estimates for 18% year over year revenue growth look reasonable.
The numbers are due out after the close of trading on Thursday.
Corrections & Amplifications: Snap will report its earnings on Thursday. The headline on an earlier version of this article incorrectly said the report will be today, Wednesday.
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]
