Data Says Twitter Still 'Years Behind' Facebook, Axiom Notes

Axiom commented on Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) Thursday following checks with the company's marketing partner, Ampush.

Analyst Victor Anthony indicated that Ampush data suggested Twitter still remained years behind Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) and "it is certainly a struggle for new advertisers to learn to effectively set up campaigns on Twitter."

In the short-term, however, Ampush claimed it had seen a "big pick-up" in advertising dollars going to Twitter for the first quarter of 2015. Ampush did not provide numbers to support its claim.

Anthony said Ampush felt that "those who come to understand how to utilize Twitter's ad platform are seeing really good results in terms of click-through rates, downloads, and conversions to sales."

"E-commerce companies, in particular this quarter, are seeing really good results when they match specific products to events such as athletic sneakers with the Super Bowl or shoes and tuxedoes with the Oscars. These advertisers have not only gotten downloads of their apps when they promote them, but have seen first-day purchases in the way they cannot effectively do with Facebook because of the live nature of Twitter," according to the analyst note.

The firm maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a $60 price target which was based on a 40x estimated 2016 EBITDA. The stock recently traded at 54x the firm's estimated 2015 EBITDA.

Anthony projected that Twitter would "grow revenues and Adjusted EBITDA at 54 percent and 79 percent three-year CAGRs (2014-2017), respectively."

Twitter recently traded at $47.06, up 1.71 percent.