Twitter Rises on Renewed Sale Speculation and Citron Favor

Twitter shares rose the most in five weeks on an endorsement from Citron Research and renewed speculation the social-media company may be an acquisition target, according to Bloomberg.

The research firm in a tweet called 2018 “the year for“ Twitter, put a target price of $35 on the stock and speculated that Chinese social-media giant Tencent would buy the San Francisco-based company. Earlier, Twitter gained as unconfirmed takeover speculation among traders pointed to Salesforce as a possible buyer. Twitter jumped 9.5 percent to $24.27 at the close in New York, the biggest single-day increase since Dec. 18.

The company reported surprisingly positive third-quarter results in late October and received upgrades and higher target prices from at least six Wall Street analysts, fueling a 40 percent stock rally through mid-January. Shares declined 5 percent the past three days after Twitter said COO Anthony Noto had left to become chief executive officer at Social Finance.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in October 2016 that he would not make a play for Twitter because it did not mesh well with his business software company. The company has made positive strides since deal talks first surfaced in 2016. User growth and advertiser spending trends have improved while the company has prioritized combating abuse and harassment on the platform.