Snapchat is about to play the canary in social media's treacherous coal mine – MarketWatch

The last time Snap Inc. reported quarterly results, the roof caved in and its shares lost a quarter of their value. Slackening digital advertising and warnings of deep cost cuts will do that to a stock. But Snap’s SNAP, +6.01% conundrum was merely a prelude for similar troubles at Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc.  META, +5.74%, Twitter Inc.  TWTR, +0.57%,  Pinterest Inc.  PINS, +5.53%  and, to a lesser extent, Alphabet Inc.’s  GOOGL, +3.53%   GOOG, +3.70% Google. Each is caught in a vice grip of inflation, a war in Ukraine and a looming recession, which combine to make for a dismal near-future for online advertising. When Snap reports its fiscal third-quarter results Thursday, analysts expect more of the same: Little good news, and a warning for other companies set to follow with their own earnings. “Snap is the worst-performing stock in our coverage universe thus far in 2022,” Brian White of Monness Crespi Hardt said in a note Monday. “Moreover, we believe the darkest days of this economic downturn are ahead of us.”  In a chilling note Oct. 5, Barclays analyst Ross Sandler called the digital ad market “soft but stable” but warned growth rates are likely to continue…
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