New York, Feb 10, 2026, 07:58 (EST) — Premarket.
Snap Inc (SNAP.N) shares jumped 3.7% to $5.38 ahead of the bell Tuesday, following Arete Research’s move to upgrade the stock to buy from neutral. Arete also lowered its price target to $7.30, down from $8.60. Pre-market trading takes place ahead of the U.S. market’s 9:30 a.m. ET open. 1
Snap’s still scraping along near its 52-week lows, even after the upgrade, with shares slashed by almost 50% over the past year. For short-term traders, that kind of backdrop can amplify any mood shift—a little optimism goes a long way when a stock’s already taken this much of a hit. 2
Snap shares slipped 0.6% to finish Monday at $5.19, after dipping to $5.09 earlier in the session. Roughly 93 million shares traded hands, according to price data. The stock’s been on a bumpy ride since last week’s earnings, as investors argue over whether the shakeout in advertising has run its course. 3
Snap topped revenue estimates for Q4 on Feb. 4, but its outlook for the first quarter fell short of what Wall Street had hoped for, citing stiff ad competition from bigger players like Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, along with TikTok. “The ads platform (of Snap) still has a long way to go in attracting big budgets from enterprise advertisers,” said Emarketer analyst Max Willens. 4
Snap rolled out a fresh stock buyback plan on Feb. 4, giving the green light for up to $500 million in repurchases over the next year. Shares could be bought on the open market or through private deals, the company said in its earnings report. CEO Evan Spiegel pointed to a focus on “profitable growth” as the driving force behind the latest results. 5
Just a day after, Snap announced it had submitted its Form 10‑K for the year ending Dec. 31, 2025, putting audited financials up on the SEC’s site and its own investor relations page. 6
Wall Street isn’t budging much from its cautious stance. Analysts followed by Stock Analysis stick with a consensus “Hold” and set an average 12-month price target that sits notably higher than where shares trade now. That disconnect? For investors, it’s the possible upside if ad demand picks up — or a reminder that those targets could keep drifting lower if it doesn’t. 7
Roth Capital Markets’ Rohit Kulkarni isn’t buying the dip just yet. He kept his neutral stance on Snap and dropped his price target to $7 from $10, describing the company’s first-quarter guidance as “uninspiring.” According to Cantech Letter, Kulkarni flagged sluggish progress on partnerships and weak momentum with major North American advertisers as potential drags on sentiment. 8
U.S. risk sentiment faces its next challenge with incoming macro data that could jolt rate bets—and, in turn, shake up growth names tied to ad revenues. The Labor Department has the January Employment Situation report due Feb. 11, then inflation figures via the January CPI out Feb. 13. Traders have their eyes glued to both releases. 9
