Twitter Earnings Not Enough, Despite Strong Beat

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) released its most recent quarterly results before the markets opened on Wednesday. The company said that it had $0.16 in earnings per share (EPS) on $664.9 million in revenue. Consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for $0.12 in EPS on revenue of $605.36 million, and the first quarter of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.07 and $548.25 million in revenue.

During the quarter, average monthly active users (MAUs) were 336 million, an increase of 3% year over year and an increase of 6 million compared to 330 million in the previous quarter. Average daily active users (DAU) grew 10% year over year, marking another quarter of double-digit growth.

One of the highlights was that adjusted EBITDA was $244 million, or 37% of total revenue, compared to $170 million or 31% of total revenue for the same period of last year.

In terms of the outlook for the second quarter, the company expects to see adjusted EBITDA in the range of $245 million to $265 million with a margin to be between 37% and 38%. The consensus estimates call for $0.12 in EPS on $636.19 million in revenue.

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Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, commented:

The first quarter was a strong start to the year. We grew our audience and engagement, marking another quarter of double digit year-over-year DAU growth, and continued our work to make it easier to follow topics, interests, and events on Twitter. We also introduced a new framework to think more cohesively about the issues affecting our service, including information quality and safety. This holistic approach will help us more effectively address these challenges by viewing them through the broader lens of the health of the public conversation, and we’re encouraged by our initial progress in this area.

Ned Segal, Twitter’s chief financial officer, added:

We grew total revenue 21% year-over-year and owned-and-operated advertising revenue 28% year-over-year, driven by continued audience growth, differentiated ad product features, improved ROI, and better sales execution. Our strong revenue performance drove better than expected profits and GAAP net margins of 9%, reflecting our continued prioritization and disciplined execution across our strategic priorities.

Shares of Twitter were last seen down more than 3% at $29.34, with a consensus analyst price target of $28.23 and a 52-week range of $15.67 to $36.80.

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