Weibo upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs analyst Timothy Zhao upgraded Weibo to Buy from Neutral with a $25 price target. The analyst expects the weak brand advertising spending trend relative to performance ads and e-commerce ads in 2022 to reverse in 2023 on a faster re-opening and stronger macro/household consumption outlooks. In particular, Zhao believes Weibo, which draws over 2/3 of its ad revenue from retail/consumption related categories, will enjoy faster revenue/earnings growth from Q2 2023, which resembles its recovery path from mid-2020 to mid-2021.