not vested
Twitter says it could turn first-ever profit, shares surgeby David Ingram, Pushkala A
(Reuters) - Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) said on Thursday it may become profitable for the first time next quarter after
slashing expenses over the past year and ramping up deals to
sell its data to other companies, which could help to break its reliance on advertising for revenue.
Shares of Twitter soared more than 18 percent to $20.31 in afternoon trading. The company also said user growth resumed in the third quarter after stalling in the prior three months.
Twitter has never had a profitable quarter based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), but said it “will likely be GAAP profitable” in the fourth quarter if it hits the high end of its estimates.
Revenue from
data licensing and other sources in the third quarter was $87 million, Twitter said, up 22 percent from a year earlier. That helped cushion an
8 percent decrease in advertising revenue.Twitter reported quarterly revenue of $590 million, down 4 percent from a year earlier, attributing much of the decrease to a previously announced decision to wind down its TellApart advertising product.
Analysts on average had expected revenue of $587 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company reported
330 million monthly active users in the quarter ended on Sept. 30, up 4 million from a quarter earlier, helped by email and push notifications.
In the United States, where growth had stalled earlier this year, the number of users rose to 69 million from 68 million.
Analysts on average expected 330.4 million monthly active users worldwide and 69 million in the United States, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet.
The decline in quarterly revenue was the third since Twitter’s debut as a public company in 2013 and raised concerns about growth among some analysts.
Twitter’s net loss narrowed to $21 million, or 3 cents per share, from $103 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned 10 cents per share.
Analysts expected a profit of 6 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Twitter cut expenses by 16 percent from a year earlier. Stock-based compensation declined 36 percent, but Twitter said the cuts were broad-based, covering sales and marketing and research and development.
Up to Wednesday’s close, Twitter’s stock had risen 5.2 percent this year, compared with a 30.4 percent gain in the S&P 500 information technology index .SPLRCT.
Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-t ... r%20Update
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