What Happened?
Shares of game engine maker Unity (NYSE: U) fell 3.5% in the afternoon session after analysts at BTIG downgraded the stock from "Neutral" to "Sell" and set a new price target of $25.00.
The downgrade from BTIG analyst Jake Fuller reflected a more cautious outlook on the video game software developer's future performance. The firm suggested that a recent 40% rally in the stock's price may have been overly optimistic. According to the analyst, the significant surge in share value, which was attributed to a recent overhaul of its advertising model, might not be fully justified by underlying improvements in the company's fundamentals. The new $25 price target issued by BTIG represented a potential downside of nearly 27% from the stock's previous closing price. This move shifted the consensus analyst rating, with two analysts now rating the stock as a sell.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Unity’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 55 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 7 days ago when the stock gained 12.4% on the news that Jefferies analyst Brent Thill raised his price target on the company to a Street-high of $35. The new price target represents a nearly 18% upside from the stock's previous close and a 20.69% increase from Jefferies' prior target of $29. The firm maintained its "Buy" rating, citing improving sentiment around Unity's ad-targeting model, Vector. Thill noted that positive mentions for Vector increased in the second quarter and that its Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) for clients improved to a 10%-20% lift, up from 5%-7% in the prior quarter. Driven by the expected improvements, Jefferies raised its revenue forecasts for Unity for 2025 and 2026. The analyst also highlighted that usage for the new Unity 6 engine is growing, indicating stability in the company's Create segment.
Unity is up 34% since the beginning of the year, but at $32.85 per share, it is still trading 10.6% below its 52-week high of $36.75 from July 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Unity’s shares at the IPO in September 2020 would now be looking at an investment worth $480.40.
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