Evercore Raises PT on Twitter with Edge on Video

In a report published Thursday, Evercore analyst Ken Sena raised the price target on Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) from $52.00 to $70.00 and maintained an Overweight rating.

Evercore sees Twitter's platform experience becoming a leader for shortform video content viewing and discovery with the potential for longform viewing. Sena noted that the company “continues to expand its partnership with content providers, cable MSOs and data management platform / programmatic players.” The analyst added to Twitter's online video opportunity commenting on the “immediacy” of the video consumer demands, the online video advertising surge in 2014-2016, the improved spending efficiency, and the new algorithm for how branded campaigns are formulated and communicated.

Assuming that Twitter will capture 5% of the video opportunity, Evercore data suggests that 17% of the analyst's Twitter revenue, or $6 billion, would consist of video. Sena reported that Twitter, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) are best positioned amongst online video providers. These three companies have “the framework of 1) control of the feed, 2) programmatic ad delivery across multiple devices, and 3) access to premium content.”

Twitter closed at $63.65 on Tuesday and shares are currently trading up as much as 5.26% at $67.00.