Skip to main content

Twitter's big year: TWTR 2014 in charts

If you follow Finance Trends on Twitter, then you've probably heard me talk about our favorite social media company and its stock (TWTR) quite a bit over the past couple years. 

However, this will be our first (!) post on Twitter's stock performance here on the website. Now that Twitter has reported 3Q earnings, it's a great time to look at the charts and see where TWTR has been in 2014, and where it may go from here.

Let's cut to the chase. Here is a newly updated chart (click to enlarge), showing today's price action post-earnings. 

Twitter TWTR stock price chart


TWTR gapped lower after last night's disappointing EPS report, opening near $42 today. Although TWTR managed to move higher during the day, the price action, as viewed from the daily chart, is rather bearish. The stock is now trading below its 50 and 200 day moving averages and it has moved lower the last 2 days on heavy volume.

Update: TWTR is now down 31% year-to-date while its rival, Facebook (FB, which reports earnings today), is up 48% YTD.  

Facebook Twitter performance charts FB vs. TWTR
FB vs. TWTR charts via Finviz.com


After a poor showing in its first year after IPO, FB turned things around and has steadily moved higher, leaving TWTR in the dust.  

Facebook FB stock chart
 

Although Twitter's revenues are climbing, with large growth in mobile ads and data licensing, Techcrunch feels the company will need to pair those gains with stronger user growth: 

"[Twitter] has a history of beating on its financial goals, and missing, or disappointing on user growth. Twitter has done an excellent job at monetizing its user base, in other words, but has had a harder time growing the base itself.".

But as Twitter co-founder Ev Williams likes to reminds people: 

"Twitter isn't a social network, it's really an information network."

Will Twitter be able to engage new, "secondary" users through TV and apps that embed tweets in their content? Only time will tell. For now, the bearish price action is telling me to find other trading opportunities on the long side.   

Long-time Twitter followers know I've also been bullish on TWTR in the past. However, the current price action is telling me to avoid the stock for now.


 

As a long-time Twitter user and observer, I've been alternately bullish or bearish on the company's platform and its stock. We can wish Twitter the company a bright and profitable future while taking an indifferent or bearish stance towards the stock. As of now, I have no position in TWTR. At some point in the future, if the stock bases and begins to move higher, I may turn bullish again.

Disclosure: I have no current position in FB or TWTR. 

Subscribe to our free email newsletter. You can follow our real-time updates on Twitter.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Seth Klarman: Margin of Safety (pdf)

Welcome, readers! Signup for free email updates at the Finance Trends Newsletter . Update: PDF links removed due to DMCA notice. Please see our extensive Klarman book notes below. New visitors, please check the Finance Trends home page for all new posts. Here's something for anyone who has been trying to get a look at Seth Klarman's now famous, and out of print, 1991 investment book, Margin of Safety .  My knowledge of value investing is pretty much limited to what I've read in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor (the book which originally popularized the investment concept of a "Margin of Safety"), so check out the wisdom from Seth Klarman and other investing greats in our related posts below. You can also go straight to Ronald Redfield's Margin of Safety book notes .    Related posts: 1. Seth Klarman interviews and Margin of Safety notes     2. Seth Klarman: Lessons from 2008 3. Investing Lessons from Sir John Templeton 4.
Read more

Moneyball: How the Red Sox Win Championships

Welcome, readers . T o get the first look at brand new posts (like the following piece) and to receive our exclusive email list updates, please subscribe to the Finance Trends Newsletter .   The Boston Red Sox won their fourth World Series title of t he 21st century this we ek. Having won their first Se ries in 86 years back in 200 4, the last decade-plus has marked a very strong return to form for one of baseball's oldest big league clubs. So how did they do it? Quick background: in late 2002, team own er and hedge fund manager, John W. Henry (with his partners ) bought the Boston Red Sox and its historic Fenway Park for a reported sum of $ 695 million. Henry and Co. quickly set out to find their ideal General Manager (GM) to help turn around their newly acquired, ailing ship. This brings us to one of my fav orite scenes from the 2011 film , Moneyball , in which John W. Henry (played by Ar liss Howard) attempts to woo Oakland A's GM Billy Beane (Brad Pi
Read more

William O'Neil Interview: How to Buy Winning Stocks

Investor's B usiness Daily founder and veteran stock trader, William O'Neil share d his trading methods and insights on buying winning stocks in an in-depth IBD radio interview. Here are some highlights from William O'Neil's interview with IBD: William O'Neil's interest in the stock market began when he started working as a young adult.  "I say many times that I didn't get that much out of college. I didn't have much interest in the stock market until I graduated from college. When I got married, I had to look out into the future and get more serious. The investment world had some appeal and that's when I started studying it. I became a stock broker after I got out of the Air Force."    He moved to Los Angeles and started work in a stock broker's office with twenty other guys. When their phone leads from ads didn't pan out, O'Neil would take the leads and drive down to visit the prospective customers in person.
Read more