What Analysts Are Saying About Twitter After Earnings

April 28, 2017 by Chris Lange

When Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) reported its first-quarter financial results on Wednesday, overall, investors were very pleased as it might be implying that Twitter is finally turning itself around. Over the course of this week the stock actually gained 13% on the earnings, which puts the stock just barely in positive territory on the year so far.

24/7 Wall St. has included some highlights from the earnings report, as well as what a few analysts are saying after the fact.

Twitter posted $0.11 in earnings per share (EPS) and $548.3 million in revenue. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for $0.01 in EPS and revenue of $511.91 million. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.15 and $594.52 in revenue.

Average monthly active users were pegged at 328 million for the quarter, up 6% year over year and compared with 319 million sequentially. Average daily active usage grew 14% from last year, an acceleration from 11% in the fourth quarter, 7% in the third quarter, 5% in the second quarter and 3% in the first quarter of 2016.

In terms of the outlook for the second quarter, the company expects to see adjusted EBITDA in the range of $95 million to $115 million, with the adjusted EBITDA margin between 21% and 21.5%. The consensus estimates call for $0.01 in EPS and $511.91 million in revenue for the coming quarter.

Here’s what analysts had to say after the report:

  • Canaccord Genuity reiterated its Hold rating but raised its price target to $15 from $14.
  • BTIG Research reiterated a Buy rating.
  • Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating with a $20 price target.
  • Instinet reiterated a Neutral rating and raised its price target to $14 from $13.
  • JMP Securities reiterated a Market Perform rating.
  • BMO Capital Markets reiterated a Market Perform rating with a $17 price target.
  • Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating with a $20 price target.
  • Wedbush reiterated a Neutral rating and raised its price target to $14 from $13.
  • Wells Fargo reiterated a Hold rating.

Shares of Twitter were last trading down 0.5% at $16.53, with a consensus analyst price target of $14.05 and a 52-week trading range of $13.73 to $25.25.

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