Shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) were sold on the New York Stock Exchange today, falling $0.35, or by 1.76 percent. Today's close remains 15 percent above the March 1 Snap initial public offering price of $17, but more than 33 percent below the $29.44 high observed on March 3. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) issued an estimate calling for Snap's revenue to grow by five times, to $2 billion, by the end of the 2018 fiscal year. Despite this, of the six analysts tracked by Yahoo Finance who offer SNAP earnings per share estimates for 2017 and 2018, the consensus is for losses, of $0.41 and $0.25, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
CNBC Trading Nation host Brian Sullivan asked about the possibility of a Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB)-like sell-off occurring, with SNAP stock falling below its $17 IPO price for a prolonged period, as FB stock did, with guest Max Wolff, with 55 Capital. Mr. Sullivan noted criticism surrounding Facebook's $38 2012 IPO price, which Mr. Wolff stated that he had joined in, at the time. He observed that the shares traded as low as near $17, before taking off to trade close to $140 today.
Max Wolff questions Snap valuation
Wolff noted that "half of the millennial community" checks Snapchat "14, 15 times" each day, and compared this with the firm asking "for an enterprise value that's about 20 times next year's revenue," on losses of near $500 million annually.
The analyst described the current SNAP stock sell-off as a "flight back to reality." He described the shares as remaining "a little expensive" at their current price, but nowhere near as overvalued as they were two weeks ago.
Sullivan noted that SNAP stock carries no voting rights, which CNBC has previously reported has caused some money managers to voice the opinion that the shares should be excluded from membership in indexes, such as the Nasdaq Composite Index and Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
The CNBC host cited concerns of investors about the lack of a "private equity" or "activist" floor, because the shares are out of the reach of those who rely on voting rights to influence the direction of publicly traded companies.
SNAP stock described as profitless 'experiment'
The 55 Capital analyst stated that the lack of voting rights was among three things Snap got "wrong" when it came public.
Wolff also cited Snap management going after "too much money right away," and not selling enough of the firm's equity. He called the company an "experiment" because of its lack of profitability. With trailing-twelve-month revenue of $404.48 million, and no profits, Snap currently has a market capitalization of $22.61 billion.
