Twitter surges after strong third-quarter earnings report

Twitter Inc shares surged the most in over two years in extended trading on Friday after reporting third-quarter revenue that beat analysts’ estimates, helped by growth in advertising revenue. The stock was up 13.4…

Twitter surges after strong third-quarter earnings report

Twitter Inc shares surged the most in over two years in extended trading on Friday after reporting third-quarter revenue that beat analysts’ estimates, helped by growth in advertising revenue.

The stock was up 13.4 percent at $36.56 at 2:25 pm EST (1925 GMT), after touching a high of $37.49, the biggest intraday increase since April 2016.

Twitter, which is set to go public again this year, reported a 37 percent jump in revenue to $909.27 million, beating the average analyst estimate of $852.05 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Revenue from advertising, the biggest chunk of its revenue, rose 23 percent to $737.13 million.

“Both ad load and ad price increases contributed to the increase in year-over-year ad revenue growth rate,” Twitter said in a statement.

The company also reported $202.75 million of revenue from data licensing and other services, compared with $79.72 million a year earlier.

Twitter’s advertising revenue growth has been slower than expected lately, while data licensing and other services has given the company a platform from which to make money.

The company is expected to go public again later this year as it looks to raise about $10 billion by selling up to 70 percent of its stock.

Twitter’s total expense jumped 44 percent to $837.95 million, higher than the average analyst estimate of $804.66 million.

Net loss attributable to the company narrowed to $111.74 million, or 9 cents per share, in the three months ended December 31, from $149.45 million, or 16 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Twitter earned 15 cents per share, handily beating analysts’ average estimate of 3 cents per share.

Reuters

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