Snap Inc was a Wall Street hoax to begin with — advertising agencies, no matter how glorified and successful, didn’t sport $35 billion valuations when I was a kid — so no one should be surprised that the company’s shares are getting obliterated in after-hours trading Wednesday evening. The stock is currently trading around 17.68, down 23% from the regular-session close and 40% off its peak IPO price of 29.44 on March 3. Costs reportedly have grown much faster than revenues, to put it mildly. Blame lavish stock options this time around. It doesn’t help that Facebook has stolen some of Snap’s best ideas and ported them to Instagram. It’s predictable that having Facebook’s jaws clamped around its jugular will not help Snap’s revenue growth in the months ahead. This means the company will need to drastically reduce costs to keep its shares buoyant.  Yeah, sure.  That’s like OPEC trying to pump up oil prices by cutting output in the face of falling global demand. That’s not how bull markets are supposed to work.  A note to analysts who shamelessly shilled SNAP’s IPO: Based on technical analysis that is infinitely superior to your own, shoddy valuation methods, I can warrant that the stock is on its way to exactly 14.81, half its peak value. Jot that number down, by all means — then see if you can take it to the bank, shysters. _______ UPDATE (May 15, 8:43 p.m. ET): Snap’s handlers have run it up bears’ old wazoo, but the short squeeze would have to exceed March 27’s ‘external’ peak at 24.40 to brighten the stock’s long-term prospects. We’ll stay out of the way for now in any event. _______UPDATE  (Jul 10, 10:23 a.m.): The stock has shed 17 percent of its value since I projected a fall to 14.81 two months ago. Although DaBoyz were able to short-squeeze this garbage sufficiently to frighten shorts half to death, the 21.94 high of the move fell well shy of my 24.40 threshold for a ‘real’ rally. I am still projecting 14.81, although there’s a chance the stock could get traction at 15.96, an alternative Hidden Pivot support._______ UPDATE (Jul 18, 11:36 p.m.): Looks like 13.40 will be the next stop on the way to oblivion for this once dream-stock of the IPO world. It is garbage, just as I wrote here two months ago.