Twitter added 7 million new active users, ad revenue hit $1 billion in second quarter.
Twitter Inc. shares rose sharply in late trading Thursday, after the company reported that it added 7 million more daily active users from the previous quarter and its revenue increased 74%.
Twitter (TWTR) shares once climbed more than 6% higher after hours, after ending the regular session at $69.57, an increase of less than 1%.
In a letter to investors, the San Francisco-based company said it saw "better-than-expected performance across all major products and geographies" in the second quarter. Revenue rose to $1.19 billion from $683.4 million in the year-ago quarter, with ad revenue soaring to $1.05 billion, an increase of 87% year over year.
The microblogging company reported net income of $65.6 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with a loss of $1.38 billion, or $1.75 a share, in the year-ago period that saw COVID 19-related adjustments. This year's second-quarter earnings included adjustments for stock-based compensation and other costs.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast adjusted earnings of 7 cents a share on revenue of $1.06 billion, including ad revenue of $926 million.
Twitter expects third-quarter GAAP operating income to be between a loss of $50 million and break even on revenue of $1.22 billion to $1.3 billion. Analysts on average had expected revenue of $1.17 billion, according to FactSet.
The report portends well for other ad-based social-media companies, as does another report that landed after the market closed Thursday, from Snap Inc., which also reported strong growth. Shares of the company's much bigger competitors, Facebook Inc. (FB) and Google parent Alphabet Inc. $(GOOGL)$(GOOGL), also rose after-hours, with Facebook increasing nearly 3% and Alphabet gaining nearly 1% ahead of their earnings reports next week.
Twitter stock has risen nearly 29% year to date and is up about 81% in the past year. By comparison, the S&P 500 index has climbed 16% so far this year, and 35% in the past 52 weeks.