Why Snap Stock Is Up 14.7% This Week

Shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) popped as much as 14.8% this week, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The camera, messaging, and social media company got an analyst upgrade, potentially good news from a competitor, and rode the positive broad market performance this week. As of this writing, shares of the stock are up 14.7% since last Friday's close.

There was minimal official news out of Snap this week, but investors still got some positive indicators that may have caused people to buy shares. First, JMP Securities put out a buy rating and a $42 price target on the stock. Shares currently trade at $15, so this would be some tremendous upside for the company if JMP Securities is correct.

Second, there has been more heat on social media and video competitor Tik-Tok. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wrote an open letter to Apple and Google (which control the mobile app stores) asking the Chinese-based app to be removed because of privacy violations, among other things. If TikTok gets taken off the app stores or is even banned in the United States, that would likely benefit Snap's business with one less social company out there competing for people's attention.

Source Fool.com