Twitter (TWTR) reported earnings on Thur 8 Feb 2018 (b/o)

** charts before earnings **

  

** charts after earnings **

  

Twitter beats by $0.05, beats on revs; Achieved GAAP profitability for first time ever 

• Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues rose 2.0% year/year to $731.6 mln vs the $686.12 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Advertising revenue totaled $644 million, an increase of 1% year-over-year.
  • O&O advertising revenue totaled $593 million, an increase of 7% year-over-year.
  • Data licensing and other revenue totaled $87 million, an increase of 10% year-over-year. o US revenue totaled $406 million, a decrease of 8% year-over-year.
  • International revenue totaled $326 million, an increase of 17% year-over-year.
  • Total ad engagements were up 75% year-over-year.
  • Cost per engagement (CPE) was down 42% year-over-year.
• Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $308 million, an increase of 43% year-over-year, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 42%, highest adjusted EBITDA margin to date and within long-term target range of 40-45%.

Users:

• Average monthly active usage (MAU) was 330 million for Q4, an increase of 4% year-over-year and flat compared to the previous quarter.
• Daily active usage grew 12% year-over-year.

Achieved GAAP profitability for the first time and delivered highest ever GAAP net income, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA margins in Q4. GAAP net income in Q4 reached $91 million with adjusted EBITDA of $308 million.

Outlook

• Q1:
  • Adjusted EBITDA to be between $185 million and $205 million;
  • Adjusted EBITDA margin to be between 33% and 34%;
  • Stock-based compensation expense to be in the range of $100 million to $110 million.
• FY2018:
  • Stock-based compensation expense to be in the range of $350 million to $450 million;
  • Capital expenditures to be between $375 million and $450 million.