Snap shares jump on upgrade ahead of earnings after the bell

Shares of Snap, parent company of Snapchat, rose Tuesday after an upgrade from Stifel ahead of the company’s earnings release after the bell.

Stifel upgraded Snap to buy from hold and hiked its price target to $17 from $13. The company is trading around $14 a per share.

“Although 2Q:19 could see noise related to a significant sales force reorg., we are increasingly optimistic about Snap’s growth prospects in 2H:19 and beyond,” Stifel’s John Egbert said in a note to clients Monday.

After a rough two years since its initial public offering in 2017, Snap’s stock is up nearly 170% this year, trading close to its $17 debut price from March 2017. After spending most of last year under pressure as users and advertisers left Snapchat’s platform, the company is restructuring as it focuses on younger users, stepping up its efforts in augmented reality and improving its advertising business.

Snap shares jumped 5.09% on Tuesday.

Headed into second-quarter earnings, Egbert estimates revenue will grow 37% year over year to $359 million, which is roughly in line with Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $360 million and on the high end of Snap’s guidance range. Egbert said he believes Snap gave cautious guidance due to the company’s reorganization.

Egbert said Snap, which has a market value of about $20 billion, has had “overlooked” success in its advertising business. The technology company has been transitioning toward self-service advertising which cuts costs for advertisers; however the analyst said bid rates for Snap have shown signs of stabilization.

Egbert also said he will be listening on the earnings call about Snap’s newly launched Android redesign, that has appeared to have a positive impact on user growth.

Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap.

— With reporting from CNBC’s Michael Bloom.