#Upbeat quarterly update lifts Twitter shares

Twitter on Thursday posted better-than-expected results for the recently ended quarter with gains in revenue, profit and its user base, sparking a rally in shares of the messaging platform.

Net profit was $66 million on revenue that surged to $1.19 billion, beating Wall Street expectations.

That compared to a loss of $1.38 billion in the same quarter a year earlier, according to the San Francisco-based tech firm.

The closely watched figure of “monetizable” daily users rose to 206 million in the quarter, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year.

Twitter said in its statement that more people were on the platform as a result of “ongoing product improvements and global conversation around current events.”

Market watchers had been concerned that the departure of former US president Donald Trump from the platform and the lack of election-year frenzy might cause use to ebb.

Twitter shares were up more than 6 percent in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings figures.

“We are shipping more, learning faster, and hiring remarkable talent,” Twitter chief Jack Dorsey said in an earnings release.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity to get the whole world to use Twitter.”

Twitter chief financial officer Ned Segal said t he quarter was marked by “better-than-expected performance across all major products and geographies.”

Twitter’s user numbers grew slower than they have in a while, but ad revenue surged some 87 percent, according to eMarketer analyst Nazmul Islam.

“There was significant demand for digital ads across the market and Twitter was integral to many brands,” Islam said.

“User growth may continue to slow down because of how big the user base already is but we can expect high growth in advertising revenues next quarter as well.”

© 2021 AFP