Shares in Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) soared in premarket trade Thursday after the San Francisco-based micro-blog operator posted third-quarter earnings that handily beat Wall Street earnings and revenue estimates.
For the quarter ended September 2018, the social media giant reported earnings of $0.21 per share on revenue of $758 million. This topped the consensus earnings estimate of $0.13 per share on revenue of $703.7 million.
Revenue rose 29% year over year while advertising revenue reached $650 million, also an increase of 29% from the previous year.
This is the second straight quarter that Twitter missed monthly active user (MAU) estimates. MAU climbed to 326 million for the third quarter compared with 330 million in the same period the previous year and compared with 335 million in the previous quarter.
Shares of Twitter soared 13.5% to $31.26 before the opening bell.
READ: Twitter’s purge leaves user metrics healthier, but weighs on growth and outlook, says Wedbush
After reporting a soft second quarter, Twitter spooked investors in July by disclosing that monthly users dropped by one million while warning that usage would further decline as the social media platform escalated its fight against fake accounts and mean rhetoric.
The company said it was achieving “meaningful progress” in its efforts to make Twitter a “healthier and valuable” everyday service
"We're doing a better job detecting and removing spammy and suspicious accounts at sign-up,” said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a statement. “We're also continuing to introduce improvements that make it easier for people to follow events, topics and interests on Twitter, like adding support for U.S. TV shows in our new event infrastructure. This quarter's strong results prove we can prioritize the long-term health of Twitter while growing the number of people who participate in public conversation."
Contact Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive