New York, Feb 23, 2026, 08:13 EST — Premarket
- Snap slipped roughly 1.4% ahead of the bell, changing hands most recently at $5.07.
- Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on Snap but stuck with an Equal Weight rating.
- Attention shifts to when Perplexity revenue will show up, with the next earnings report coming in late April.
Snap Inc (SNAP) shares slipped roughly 1.4% before the bell Monday, hit by a price target cut from Morgan Stanley. The stock was recently quoted at $5.07, off 7 cents from where it settled Friday.
Investors keep hammering Snap with the same question: when will fresh revenue streams actually hit the numbers and shift the narrative for the stock? Subscriptions and partnerships—they look decent in theory, but the market’s after specifics on timing and margins.
Banks set price targets to predict where a stock might land in about a year. When risk appetite dries up, those target cuts can bite hard. U.S. index futures slipped on Monday, pressured by fresh worries around tariffs.
Brian Nowak at Morgan Stanley is sticking with his Equal Weight rating—he still sees Snap performing roughly in line with its peers—but he’s trimming his price target down to $6.50 from $9.50, his note shows. Nowak highlights that Snap’s underlying business has been stronger than anticipated. The sticking point: investors are left waiting for specifics on when the Perplexity deal will actually deliver $400 million in “high-margin” revenue, as talks between the two companies are still ongoing. TipRanks
Back in November, Snap and AI search player Perplexity struck a deal: Perplexity is set to pay Snap $400 million over 12 months—cash, plus equity—as their partnership expands worldwide. Revenue from the tie-up won’t hit Snap’s books until 2026. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel framed the integration as a move to make AI “more personal, social, and fun.” Perplexity chief Aravind Srinivas, for his part, said his team wants to meet users’ curiosity “directly where it occurs.” Snap Investor Relations
Snap topped expectations for fourth-quarter revenue, but its outlook for the first quarter—$1.50 billion to $1.53 billion—fell short of the $1.55 billion analysts were seeking. Notably, the forecast left out Perplexity revenue; the companies haven’t settled on a broader rollout yet. “The ads platform (of Snap) still has a long way to go in attracting big budgets from enterprise advertisers,” said Emarketer’s Max Willens. Reuters
Snap last week reported its direct-revenue business is now running at a $1 billion annualized clip, while its total subscriber count topped 25 million across all products. Starting Feb. 23, the company will roll out a U.S. test for a creator subscription tool, designed to help creators collect steady payments from their fans.
On a $5 stock, even modest changes from analysts can pack a punch. Snap has moved in a range of $4.65 to $10.83 during the last 52 weeks, Stock Analysis data show.
The risk here? It’s mostly about when and how well things actually play out. Partner revenue landing behind schedule, or a slowdown in subscription growth, and shares could end up stuck—just bouncing between analyst notes and every minor ad check update.
The next big test comes with earnings—Wall Street Horizon pegs Snap’s next report for April 28 after the bell, but that timing isn’t locked in yet. What traders want to see: clues that those Perplexity payments are starting to show up as actual revenue, not just headlines.
