Tigress Financial Partners Says Twitter's Growth Trends A 'Concern,' Reiterates Neutral Rating

In a report published Tuesday, Tigress Financial Partners analyst Philip Van Deusen reiterated a Neutral rating on shares of Twitter TWTR due to ongoing concerns surrounding growth trends in user metrics. Van Deusen noted that Twitter's revenue of $432 million in the fourth quarter topped expectations and indicated the company is execution on its monetization strategy. However, the analyst added that at the same time monthly average user growth "disappointed yet again," raising concerns over the company's long-term growth profile. Van Deusen also noted that competition remains the biggest concern as Snapchat has become the "go-to" social media app while Facebook FB continues to position itself as a news destination as its new "trending" section is a "direct shot" at Twitter. "We believe Facebook's trending sidebar is an improvement on Twitter's given its focus on news articles instead of hashtags or people versus Twitter's trending section," Van Deusen wrote. Finally, Van Deusen argued that Instagram's video capabilities have "placed a lid" on the popularity of Twitter's Vine platform and that Facebook's new video feature on its platform has seen "notable success" so far.