As if Snap wasn’t feeling enough heat, Facebook’s strong second quarter earnings should turn the flames up a bit higher.
Snap won’t report its own earnings until August 10. But on Wednesday, Facebook said revenue rose 44.8 percent in the three months ending June 30. That’s slower than the 59 percent growth rate from the same period a year ago but still big for a company the size of Facebook.
In after-market trading, that news sent Facebook’s stock up 3.73 percent to $171.79 per share, which would be a new record for the company. So far, Facebook’s stock has jumped 43.95 percent this year.
Which, by coincidence, is about how much Snap’s stock has fallen since its IPO: 45.26 percent.
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On Wednesday, Snap’s stock closed at $13.40 per share, down 3.53 percent. And in after-market trading, investors pushed it down another 2.27 percent. The company won’t be helped by news that a critical stock index may exclude it due to its governance rules that limit transparency.
But in the longer-term, it’s the threat from Facebook that casts the longest shadow.
Snap and Facebook are linked forever, it seems, thanks to the tale that the former once rejected the latter’s $3 billion buyout offer. At $15.8 billion, Snap is still valued well above that offer. But Facebook’s relentless copying of Snap’s features via Instagram Stories has investors worried that Snap will have a tough time finding ways to grow users and revenues.
By not offering much in the way of a plan for stoking user growth or a longer-term vision for the company, Snap executives didn’t help themselves during their first earnings call.
They’ll get a second chance to restore investors’ confidence next month. But with Facebook firing on all cylinders, a weak earnings report from Snap could leave many investors wishing the company had accepted that Facebook buyout offer all those years ago.
