Twitter Says 1Q Profit Rises On Ad Demand, Daily Users Up
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF / AP) — Twitter Inc. on Tuesday said earnings in the first three months of the year rose on strong ad demand while user numbers posted healthy growth.
The San Francisco-based company said the number of daily users rose 11% to 134 million for the first quarter of 2019, thanks to both "organic growth as well as ongoing product improvements and marketing."
The San Francisco company started disclosing its daily user base in the previous quarter. These are users who log into the site at least once a day and see advertisements on the platform. Twitter says daily metric will replace its monthly user count, which it will stop disclosing.
The earnings report also included details of an experimental app that the company has been developing to make the social media site more "conversational."
The app's biggest change is that it lets users view an entire Twitter thread instead of having to tap through each individual post.
"People love this," said CEO Jack Dorsey, on an earnings call. "They love this more than the production Twitter app."
Twitter executives said a small group of people started trying the app out a month ago but did not reveal when it would be launched.
The company posted profit of $190.8 million, or 25 cents per share, for the first quarter. After adjusting for one-time gains and costs, earnings rose 10 percent to $66.4 million, or 9 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research forecast earnings of 15 cents per share.
Revenue in the period came in at $786.9 million, beating analyst forecasts of $774.9 million.
Twitter said advertising demand in the first quarter grew strongly, led by the U.S., where ad revenue rose by a quarter.
Operating expenses rose 18% to $693 million
For the current quarter ending in July, Twitter said it expects revenue in the range of $770 million to $830 million. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $821 million.
In early trading, Twitter shares soared 13%. The stock has increased 20% since the beginning of the year.
© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.