Twitter is trading at its lowest price since April after a brutal note from a Wall Street analyst (TWTR)
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Twitter shares fell to their lowest price in months on Monday after a brutal research note from MoffettNathanson.
"For a business locked in competition with industry giants and under siege from regulators, reported operating expense growth has been amazingly low," analyst Michael Nathanson said.
Twitter shares fell more than 4% to $28.43 on Monday, their lowest price since April, after MoffettNathanson cut its price target to a Wall Street low of $21.
The stock is now down more than 40% from its high of $47.79 in June.
The social network is struggling with "smoke and mirrors on the cost line" analyst Michael Nathanson said in a note to clients, adding that the rest of Wall Street was likely underestimating Twitter's growing expenses.
"For a business locked in competition with industry giants and under siege from regulators, reported operating expense growth has been amazingly low," he said, according to CNBC.
"After digging into the most recent 10-Qs, we would argue that true underlying cost growth has actually been materially higher in the range of 13 percent to 15 percent."
In its most recently quarterly earnings report in July, Twitter said it experienced a drop in monthly active users, sending shares down by as much as 18%. Complaints about the social network's handling of trolls, bots, and conspiracy theorists, like Alex Jones and his InfoWars blog, only weighed more on the stock's price through August. These struggles point to a "dire need to improve platform safety," Nathanson said.
Despite the slump, Twitter is still up about 18% this year.
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