Twitter’s stock dropped more than 10 percent on Friday, closing the day at 63.75. That interrupts weeks of unimpeded growth for the stock, which made its public debut in early November.
Though Twitter priced itself at $26 a share for its initial public offering, its stock rose to $44.90 by the end of its first day on the market. Twitter’s share price has risen steadily over the past few weeks, closing at a new high of $73.31 at end of day Thursday.
That prompted this headline in the San Jose Mercury News: “Twitter’s share price flies past moon, heads towards Mars”
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That rise prompted Macquarie to downgrade the company. The brokerage previously held a “neutral” rating for Twitter, but changed its tune after Twitter’s recent stock surge despite “virtually no new news.”
“We continue to believe that Twitter as a company has a bright future and many opportunities ahead,” analyst Ben Schachter wrote in a note, widely circulated in media reports. “However, as a stock, we believe nothing has changed over the last 15 days to justify the rise in valuation.”
Twitter’s share price is still almost two and a half times what it was first offered at — and well above where it stood after one day on the trading floor.