Twitter released its first quarter earnings report after closing bell tonight, posting adjusted earnings of 15 cents per share and $595 million in revenue. Analysts had been looking for earnings of 10 cents per share and $607.84 million in revenue.
Twitter posted a GAAP loss of $80 million or 12 cents per share. Adjusted EBITDA climbed 73% to $180 million with a 30% adjusted EBITDA margin. Ad revenue climbed 37% year over year to $531 million, while data licensing and other revenue increased 34% to $64 million. U.S. revenue increased 35% to $390 million, while international revenue grew 39% to hit $204 million.
Twitter adds 5 million users
Twitter said that at the end of the first quarter, it had 310 million monthly active users, representing a 3% year over year increase against last year’s 305 million users. The consensus estimate was 308 million users. The micro-blogging platform said mobile monthly active users were 83% of the total user count.
Twitter shares have declined by more than 60% over the last 12 months as investors continue to express their dissatisfaction with the micro-blogging platform’s stagnant to declining user growth, although the stock actually increased ahead of tonight’s report. In the fourth quarter, the company actually reported a decline in monthly active users.
Management said at the time of the report in February that they were starting to see this trend turn around, but Canaccord Genuity analysts warned before tonight’s report that comScore data suggested that last month was particularly difficult for Twitter’s user trends. They were expecting the micro-blogging platform to add 5 million new users during the first quarter, including 4 million international users and 1 million domestic users.
Twitter provides guidance
For the second quarter, Twitter management expects between $590 million and $610 million in revenue, which is strong compared to the consensus of $577.6 million. They expect between $145 million and $155 million in adjusted EBITDA.
Twitter shares plunged in after-hours trades, falling by as much as 8.56% to $16.25 per share.
