New York, June 4, 2026, 11:08 EDT
Snap Inc. shares climbed almost 7% late Thursday morning after S&P Global Ratings upgraded the company’s credit rating and gave a positive outlook for the coming year. The stock was at $6.13 around 10:52 a.m. EDT, 40 cents higher from Wednesday’s close. Trading volume was near 17.7 million shares.
S&P’s upgrade is key for Snap as it attempts to leave behind its days as a high-growth, unprofitable app and show it can cover its own costs. A credit rating tracks a borrower’s capacity to pay back what it owes; S&P considers anything under BBB- as speculative or junk, so investors usually want a higher yield for that risk.
S&P has upgraded Snap’s issuer credit rating to BB- from B+ and moved its unsecured notes up to BB- as well. S&P pointed to lower leverage, improved free operating cash flow to debt, expected revenue gains from subscriptions and new products, plus Snap’s cost-savings steps.
Chief Financial Officer Doug Hott said, “This upgrade reflects the progress we are making to strengthen Snap’s financial profile while continuing to invest in our long-term growth opportunities.” That’s the pitch: Snap will keep spending on products, but with more discipline. Business Wire
Snap’s first-quarter revenue climbed 12% to $1.53 billion with a net loss of $89 million. Free cash flow landed at $286 million. That’s what’s left after the company pays to run the business and for property and equipment. CEO Evan Spiegel said Snap “returned to growth in daily active users.” The company had 483 million daily users and 956 million monthly. Snap Investor Relations
Snap’s rebound Thursday leaves the stock well under water. The shares are still trading far below the $10.41 52-week high set last July, according to MarketWatch data earlier this week. That means Thursday’s move hasn’t undone the larger drop in valuation.
Snap’s cost cuts have been in focus for months. Back in April, Snap said it planned to cut around 1,000 jobs, or 16% of staff, after activist investor Irenic called for lower costs and a higher valuation; Reuters said the measures would hit more than $500 million in annualized savings, or a yearly run-rate after the layoffs.
Stocks traded mixed. Meta gained around 2.5% and Pinterest jumped about 6%. QQQ, which tracks the Nasdaq 100, dropped roughly 1%. SPY, the S&P 500 ETF, was flat.
Snap has less scale and is more sensitive to changes in ad spending than its peers. In its annual report, Snap named Meta, ByteDance’s TikTok, and Pinterest as competitors with bigger user numbers or more resources.
Investors will watch June 16, with Snap’s Spiegel set to give a keynote called “Making Computing More Human” at Augmented World Expo. The talk brings Specs, Snap’s AR eyewear project, back into focus — digital objects over the real world — while Snap signals to investors it’s taking a harder look at costs. Q4cdn
Snap’s bounce is about more than a better rating. S&P’s improved outlook needs Snap to keep cutting costs and posting stronger sales. The BB- rating is still junk. Slower ad sales, underwhelming subscriber growth, or big spending on AR gear could put pressure on the shares again and bring back focus on the company’s losses and debt.
Equity markets are taking the upgrade as a sign Snap has its costs and cash flow pointing the right way. The next question is if users and advertisers keep up their end.
