Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) will be reporting its first quarterly results since going public on February 5 after the market close. The microblogging company will also hold a conference call at 5:00PM EST on the same day. Morgan Stanley analysts expect the company to easily beat the fourth quarter Wall Street consensus because the expectations have been conservative.
Analysts to focus on Twitter’s mobile advertising
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) to report a non-GAAP loss of 2 cents per share with $217.7 million in revenues. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark S. Mahaney expects non-GAAP losses of one cent per share on revenues of $235 million. The research firm appears to be more optimistic than the Wall Street consensus. Mahaney expects Twitter’s EBIDTA to come at $31 million in the fourth quarter.
As with any other social networking company, monetization ability and growth in the mobile space will remain the key focus in Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s earnings. UBS analysts expect Twitter’s advertising revenue to rise 114% to $214 million in Q4. The company’s ad revenue had registered 123.5% during the third quarter of 2013. UBS is looking for mobile advertising revenue of $158 million.
Twitter’s presence on desktop weakens, but mobile strong
ComScore data showed that Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) witnessed a 48% decline in total desktop page views and a 30% fall in total minutes spent during the first two months of Q4. Meanwhile, the number of unique mobile visitors in the U.S. jumped 20.4% and total minutes spent went up by 46%. UBS analyst Eric Sheridan says rising mobile engagement is a positive sign for Twitter. The research firm expects global monthly active users (MAUs) to rise 34% YoY to 249 million, and the timeline views to reach 167.4 billion. UBS says about 76% or 189.2 million monthly active users access the site through mobile devices.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) recently purchased the mobile advertising exchange MoPub for $350 million. Analysts believe it will help the company achieve scale as smartphone penetration continues to grow.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares were down 0.18% in pre-market trading Wednesday to $66.20.
