Earnings came in at a gain of $0.02 per share on an adjusted basis, and revenue grew by 116% to $243 million. Thomson Reuters was calling for earnings to be a loss of -$0.02 per share on revenues of $217.8 million.
Before you think that Twitter is profitable, its net loss of $511 million translates to a loss of -$1.41 per share. Still, the company did end 2013 with about $2.2 billion in cash and liquidity.
Another issue is that average monthly active users came up 30% to 241 million. CNBC had been throwing around a consensus of closer to 250 million ahead of the report. Mobile monthly active users rose 37% to 184 million. Advertising revenue up 121% to $220 million, and mobile advertising revenue was over 75% of the total revenue. Advertising revenue per thousand timeline views reached $1.49 in the fourth quarter of 2013, an increase of 76% year-over-year.
Twitter did give guidance, as follows:
- March quarter revenues of $230 to $240 million, versus $215.2 million expected;
- Full 2014 revenue of $1.15 to $1.20 billion, versus $1.13 billion expected;
- EBITDA for the first quarter is projected to be $10 million to $16 million, and EBITDA for all of 2014 is being projected in a range of $150 to $180 million.
Twitter’s stock is so far getting a reality check. After closing down 0.5% at $65.97, the after-hours reaction after the news has shares down another 11% to $57.62 or so.
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