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Should You Buy Twitter (TWTR) Stock As It Fights Fake Accounts?

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Twitter saw its stock price jump roughly 3% Wednesday as the company bolsters its fight against fake accounts and misleading information on its platform in the lead-up to November’s midterm elections. The question is should investors consider buying Twitter stock at the moment? A few signs point to yes.

Recent News

Twitter laid out in a blog post Monday its plans to combat fake accounts as we near the midterm elections. The embattled social media firm said that it “removed approximately 50 accounts misrepresenting themselves as members of various state Republican parties” back in August.

“We have also taken action on Tweets sharing media regarding elections and political issues with misleading or incorrect party affiliation information,” the firm continued. “We continue to partner closely with the RNC, DNC, and state election institutions to improve how we handle these issues.”

Twitter said that its new automated detection system continuously monitors for “potentially spammy and automated accounts.” Jack Dorsey’s company said that it “challenged an average of 9.4 million accounts each week” during the first half of September. Twitter noted that it has seen a decline in the average number of spam-related reports it has received from users—down from an average of roughly 17,000 a day in May to approximately 16,000 in September.

Overview

Twitter, along with Facebook and Google (GOOGL - Free Report) , has come under increased scrutiny for its role in the spread of misinformation and fake news. The platform has hurt its own user totals with some of its recent moves. But it seems likely that cleaning up Twitter from fake accounts and spam designed to divide, will make it more attractive in the long-run.

Plus, investors should remember that Twitter has actively pushed further into live streaming video, which has helped its advertising revenues jump and its overall engagement increase. The firm’s total ad revenues climbed 23% to hit $601 million in Q2. Meanwhile, TWTR’s total ad engagements skyrocketed 81%.

Twitter also added 50 new video agreements during the second quarter, including more partnerships with Disney’s (DIS - Free Report) ESPN, NBCUniversal (CMCSA - Free Report) , Viacom , and others. Facebook and Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) have also jumped into live video as traditional TV fades.

 

With that said, shares of TWTR have plummeted over 33% in the last three months as investors fear government intervention might be coming. But Twitter, which had long struggled to turn a profit, looks poised to expand its bottom line going forward.

Outlook

Looking ahead, our current Zacks Consensus Estimate is calling for Twitter’s Q3 revenues to surge by over 19% to $703.72 million. Meanwhile, TWTR is projected to see its full-year revenues reach $2.92 billion, which would also represent a 19.6% jump.

More impressively and importantly, Twitter’s adjusted quarterly earnings are expected to soar 40% to $0.14 per share. Meanwhile, the firm’s adjusted full-year EPS figure is projected to skyrocket by over 59% to reach $0.70. It is also worth noting that Twitter has seen some positive earnings estimate revision activity for its current full year recently.

Bottom Line

Twitter is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) based on its upward earnings revision trends. Plus, TWTR rocks an “A” grade for Growth and a “B” for Momentum in our style scores system. Therefore, it might not be a bad idea to think about buying Twitter despite some of the negativity surrounding the social media company right now.

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