Los Angeles, March 1, 2017. Snapchat is seeking to set the IPO price at $17, which is slightly above the expected range between $15 to $16. The market consensus seems to be that the deal will go ahead with the suggested price and should open above the IPO.
Naturally, at this point in time, comparisons to Twitter and Facebook abound. In order to avoid a sinking share price soon after the IPO, Snap needs to execute on its business model quickly, achieve a very high rate of revenue growth and at least 50x multiple earnings. This would translate into an expectation of approximately $4 Billion within the next 4 to 5 years and potentially result in a good ROI for your IPO investment.
The chart below shows the metrics for the respective company in the year before the IPO. While Snap clearly cannot compare to Facebook, it also has higher losses than Twitter and barely edges out Twitter in daily users. Concerns are that it may replicate the decline of the Twitter share price after the IPO,
In contrast, many analysts argue that Snap has a much more diversified business plan that goes far beyond its current model and provides better investment opportunity than Twitter's current model.
55% of surveyed analysts are Bullish - 48% are Bearish