Getty Images/file 2013 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shares of Twitter were up sharply on Thursday as analysts pointed to the microblogging service's gains in mobile and TV engagement, although one analyst warned that Facebook is "increasingly taking share."
/quotes/zigman/23556538/delayed/quotes/nls/twtr TWTR 54.83, +0.45, +0.83% Twitter Inc.
Twitter (TWTR) gained nearly 1% to close at $54.83. Janney Capital analyst Tony Wible cited new research that showed a growth in "TV-related multitasking" which he said "signals that both TV networks and social networks have some way to go to drive TV related activity that they can monetize."
"We see both Facebook and Twitter as key beneficiaries in this context," he told clients in a note.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali, citing data from comScore, wrote in a note to clients that Twitter saw "a robust uptick" in smartphone visitor and engagement growth in January.
"The data shows continued strength in user growth and acceleration in time spent, consistent with management's commentary that time spent per timeline view increased in the fourth quarter, despite deceleration in total timeline views," Squali wrote.
However, Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey offered a less-upbeat view of Twitter, which spooked investors in its last quarterly report by posting weaker-than-expected user growth.
"The executive team continues to tweak forward product layers to appeal to a mass market audience, a process that will provide limited benefits, in our view," he told clients in a note. "We have lingering concerns that plans for an accelerated user growth could prove ambitious, and wonder if user engagement could struggle to find a solid foundation for reset. We are concerned Facebook is increasingly taking share."
Shares of Facebook (FB) were down 1% to close at $70.84.
Also in the red were shares of Pandora Media (P) , which fell 5.6% to close at $37.23, after the Internet radio firm reported disappointing audience growth data.
Shares of eBay Inc. (EBAY) gained nearly 1% to close at $59.30 as investor Carl Icahn sent another open letter to the company's shareholders, saying he plans to continue his campaign for a change on the eBay board.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) gave up 6 points to close at 4,352. But the benchmark ended the week up 1%. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) also was down a fraction on Friday, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up 0.7%.
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