Twitter, News Corp, Sotheby’s are stocks to watch

Getty Images Twitter shares are expected to see active trading in Monday's session.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Monday's session are Twitter Inc., News Corp, and Sotheby's.

After skyrocketing more than 70% on its market debut, Twitter (TWTR)  gave up 7.2% on Friday, its second day of trading, drawing even more comparisons with Facebook Inc. (FB) . Like Twitter, Facebook's initial public offering in May 2012 had been the marquee IPO of the year. But after a first day pop, the stock failed to live up to the hype and traded below its IPO price of $38 until earlier this year when investors saw visible proof that the company's monetization effort was bearing fruit

Twitter faces much of the same obstacles in convincing skeptics that it has a viable product in its microblogging service, and its key task will be to demonstrate that it can continue to attract enough active users to continue growing its revenue.

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"Twitter is likely in the early innings of its growth. We believe that the majority of the world's 2.4 billion Internet users have great potential to find something or someone on Twitter that they are interested in," Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush, said in a report.

He initiated coverage of Twitter's with a neutral rating and a price target of $37.

On the earnings front, News Corp (NWSA)  is expected to report fiscal first-quarter earnings of 5 cents a share, according to a consensus survey by FactSet. In June, the media company separated its entertainment arm to operate as 21st Century Fox Inc. (FOXA)  while the publishing business retained the News Corp name. News Corp owns The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch, the publisher of this report.

Sotheby's (BID)  is projected to report a loss of 47 cents a share in the third quarter.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGO)  is forecast to post third-quarter earnings of 63 cents a share.