Twitter shares crash as user growth stalls
Here are the key numbers:
- Monthly average users: 320 million, versus the 324 million expected by analysts
- Revenue: $569 million compared to the $559.6 million expected by analysts (Twitter had already pre-announced that revenue will be at or above the top end of its forecasted range of $545 million to $560 million)
- Adjusted EPS: 10 cents versus the 5 cents expected by analysts
Twitter shares were down 10.3% to $28.11 in after hours trading on Tuesday.
This will be CEO Jack Dorsey's first earnings conference call since he was appointed Twitter's permanent chief earlier this month (he was previously serving as interim CEO). Twitter already pre-announced that revenue will be at or above its guidance, so Wall Street will be focused on two things:
- Twitter's flagging monthly active user growth
- Dorsey's comments about how he will revive the company's fortunes.
It's been a busy few months for Twitter. In addition to appointing a new CEO, the company launched the new Moments feature, which tries to make it easier for new users of the service to follow live events, such as sports and presidential debates. And the money-losing company recently slashed 8 percent of its workforce.
Twitter's stock has plunged 41 percent from its 52-week high of $53.49, though it has rebounded from recent lows when shares were trading below the company's IPO price.
While Twitter eliminated some of the uncertainty about its management by completing its CEO search, the appointment of Dorsey to the role creates more questions, as the 38-year-old Twitter cofounder also serves as the full time CEO of digital payments company Square.
Twitter warned investors last quarter that they should not expect any meaningful user growth for a "considerable" amount of time. The question now is whether Dorsey has plan to change that.
We'll be covering Twitter's results once they hit the wire, so refresh this page or click here to follow along.