The new normal: Twitter stock hits new low again and again

 

Jack Dorsey, the CEO and cofounder of Twitter, is interviewed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015 as his other startup Square goes public.Image: Richard Drew/Associated Press.

Started from the top, now we're here.
After soaring above $70 a share in its first weeks as a public company, Twitter stock fell below $20 a share for the first time on Friday. By Wednesday, the stock had fallen below $19 for the first time and was still dipping.

Any day you browse the social network now, you're likely to read a headline about its stock hitting yet another "new low."
It's like watching a boxer knocked out in the ring, only the match never really ends. The stock market's opening bell rings each day and wild-eyed investors beat up the company some more.
As with all things related to Twitter, everyone has an opinion on what's wrong.
"Twitter shares hit new low on rumored shift to 10,000-character tweets," The Guardian wrote in a headline last week, shortly before the stock fell to a new low below $20 and hit new lows afterward.
Brietbart, a conservative news service, curiously implied it had something to do with the decline in a headline this week: "Twitter Stock Closes At Another All-Time Low After Attack On Breitbart Tech Editor."
In reality, a broader market decline has shed an even harsher light on the cracks in flailing businesses like Twitter.
Investors appear to be fleeing numerous troubled tech companies that once held the promise significant growth in favor of safer investments at a time when the overall market is crashing from concerns about China, as well as falling oil prices and the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates.
Twitter already had the scent of blood about it after several quarters of disappointing user growth. The tougher market, combined with the sense that Twitter is basically throwing ideas at the wall, is only cutting it down faster and harder.
But a stock decline is a stock decline, and the effects of this one can already be felt.

TWTR data by YCharts

There is growing chatter about whether Twitter could now be vulnerable to an activist investor or sale. And even otherwise unrelated and positive announcements, like Periscope hitting 100 million live broadcasts and integrating with Twitter are being framed by the "all-time low" stock price.
Jack Dorsey, the Twitter cofounder and part-time CEO who is still relatively new in the position, and his executive team are likely to face greater pressure with its earnings report next month to show that something — anything — is actually working.
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