JMP Securities Previews Twitter Earnings

In a report published Tuesday, JMP Securities analysts maintained a Market Outperform rating on Twitter Inc TWTR, with a price target of $52. Twitter is likely to report its 1Q15 results ahead of expectations, driven by its strong advertising backdrop for social and mobile. Since 29 percent of the company's 3Q14 advertising revenue was contributed by new products, "we view Twitter's product launch cycle as a forward indicator of revenue," the analysts said. "By our count, Twitter launched / improved at least 11 new consumer-facing products this quarter and also launched at least 6 advertising products. We believe this cadence of product improvements and innovation is a direct result of Twitter's realignment of its product and engineering teams last fall," the analysts added. Twitter's future performance is expected to be driven by improved usage driven by "centered around video, onboarding, and engagement," the analysts commented. New key feature products such as in-app video sharing and editing, instant timelines, and ‘while you were away' are expected to boost Twitter's performance going forward. "On the ad product side, we highlight Promoted Tweets syndication, Quick Promote, Partner Audiences, and integration with Google Inc GOOGL, among others, that could drive results," the report mentioned.