Bob Peck: Facebook an Example of What Twitter Should Be

During last night's Republican Presidential Debate, Facebook Inc FB "dominated" the branding, with the logo and discussion prominent during the entire live broadcast. "This is a prime example of a ‘live event' that Twitter Inc TWTR should be dominating, and yet it wasn't," according to SunTrust's Bob Peck. Peck also noted that Twitter hashtags were not present during the broadcast.

This further illustrates Twitter's need to get a CEO, Peck wrote. "We believe the recent CEO disruption and continued talent departures are hamstringing product development, decision making, and even live event interactivity." He puts blame for the delay on Interim CEO Jack Dorsey, who needs to make up his mind about his future with the company so the Search Committee can "move forward."

Peck put the emphasis on execution and said that even though a CEO decision would be a positive first step, the fundamentals of the business – user growth, engagement and advertiser ROI – need to turn around. The analyst maintained the firm's Neutral rating on Twitter, advising investors to remain "on the sidelines" until larger positive steps are made.

Year to date, Twitter has dropped 23 percent after a solid start to the trading year. In April, the stock was trading 44 percent above its January 1 price. Since then, the past two quarterly earnings reports have hit the stock hard – causing it to plummet nearly 50 percent.