What happened
Shares of Twilio (TWLO -1.97%) marched sharply higher Wednesday, surging as much as 6.2% before ending the trading day up 5.9%.
The catalyst that sent the cloud-communications specialist higher was bullish commentary from a Wall Street analyst.
So what
Piper Sandler (NYSE: PIPR) analyst Brent Bracelin was a guest on CNBC's TechCheck and included Twilio in his list of cloud names to watch. He argued that Twilio has much greater prospects than investors give the company credit for and will be bigger than many expect, making it the next big cloud provider.
Image source: Getty Images.
"We think Twilio could become a $10 billion business," Bracelin said. To give that context, the company generated revenue of $1.76 billion in 2020, suggesting he expects revenue growth of 468% over the next several years.
This came on the heels of bullish commentary issued late last month when Bracelin said the risk/reward for Twilio had "turned compelling." The analyst believes the company's "direct-to-consumer tailwinds are underappreciated growth levers."
He based his bullish outlook on third-quarter digital downloads across 50 popular applications that suggest that outperformance in several areas -- including travel, retail, media, and food activity -- could offset difficult comparisons in Twilio's education and communication segments. He believes the toughest comps are already in the rearview mirror and will get easier still going into the fourth quarter.
At the time, Bracelin reiterated his firm's overweight (buy) rating, while also reaffirming a price target of $550. His estimate would represent potential gains for investors of 68% over the coming year, compared with its closing price on Tuesday.
Now what
Twilio has done a remarkable job maintaining its growth trajectory, with revenue up 67% year over year in the second quarter. Existing customers are spending more, as evidenced by its dollar-based net expansion rate of 135%. At the same time, the company cut its loss from operations by half.
This impressive performance suggests the analyst's call is right on the money. With the stock price down 22% from recent highs, now is the time to buy Twilio stock.
