The Silicon Valley 150 Index was slightly lower in mid-session trading — in tandem with a slump on Wall Street.
However, favorable comments from an analyst about Twitter, a social media darling that s fallen on hard times lately, lifted the micro-blogging company s shares.
San Francisco-based Twitter jumped more than 5 percent after analyst Bob Peck of investment firm SunTrust Robinson Humphrey upgraded the micro-blogging service to buy from neutral on Monday.
Cautiously optimistic is the assessment that the analyst has about Twitter, according to a new analysis released Monday. The analyst added that some positive catalysts are in the wind for the social network.
The catalysts include a partnership with Google for tweets and Twitter handles to appear in Google search results, and an array of revenue-producing plans, as well as efforts to mine its inactive users.
Twitter s active user base should grow 22 percent, and revenue in 2017 should rise 15 percent from the current levels, the analyst estimated.
Revenue should hit $3.3 billion in 2016 and $7 billion in 2019, the analyst predicted. Over the most recent 12 months of reported financials ending in June, Twitter s revenues totaled $1.78 billion with a loss of nearly $600 million.
The Silicon Valley 150 Index was down slightly just before 11 a.m. on Monday.
San Jose-based Extreme Networks, a network equipment maker, was the best-performing stock in the index, up about 7 percent, while Cupertino-based Aemetis, a renewable fuels and biochemicals firm, was down more than 3 percent.
Among the largest companies in the SV 150 index, Apple was rising slightly, while Facebook, Google, Oracle, and Gilead Sciences were falling.
BANG staff photo: Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the Apple Watch at an 2014 event in Cupertino.
