Twitter, TWTR, Beats Second Quarter 2015 Estimates
Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) issued its second quarter 2015 financial results after the 4 p.m. regular market close today. The firm reported earnings per share of $0.07 on gross revenues of $502 million, beating views by analysts who the follow the firm calling for TWTR EPS of $0.04 and revenues of $481.3 million.
Interim Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey was quoted as follows.
“Our Q2 results show good progress in monetization, but we are not satisfied with our growth in audience. In order to realize Twitter’s full potential, we must improve in three key areas: ensure more disciplined execution, simplify our service to deliver Twitter’s value faster, and better communicate that value.”
The company will host a conference call at 5 p.m. ET.
Twitter Q2’15 earnings today after mkt close. Listen @2pm PT via @twitterIR, on http://t.co/Nud3F9IgDM, or on Periscope #TWTRearnings $TWTR
— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) July 28, 2015
Meager TWTR Share Performance
As of the close of regular trading, TWTR shares sat about 8 percent above their 52-week low of $33.51. Shares of other social networks like Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) and LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) trade much closer to all-time highs. Facebook is expected to report earnings on July 29 and LinkedIn on July 30.
In 2015, shares of TWTR have returned about 1 percent, compared with a 1 percent loss for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI). This statistic, however, belies the true nature of TWTR share trading in 2015: including the near 50 percent jump TWTR shares made, and then gave back, from early February to late April.
TWTR: Ambitious Growth Forecasts
Current Wall Street consensus analyst estimates are calling for TWTR EPS growth of 500.0 percent in the third quarter, and 135.7 percent for the full fiscal 2015 year. Analysts see TWTR EPS growing 103.0 percent in 2016, and by an average of 66.4 percent annually over the next five years.
Over the past 90 days, the consensus TWTR EPS estimate had fallen from $0.05 to $0.04. TWTR third quarter EPS estimates have remained steady at $0.06. Over the past 90 days, the TWTR EPS consensus for the full year fell from $0.35 to $0.33, and the 2016 TWTR EPS consensus fell from $0.69 to $0.67.
Twitter sales are forecast at $555.78 million in the third quarter, and $2.20 billion for the entire 2015 year, representing growth of 54.2 and 53.8 percent, respectively. Twitter sales in 2016 are forecast to grow 47.4 percent from 2015 forecast levels.
Going into today’s report, Twitter carried $1.6 billion in debt, giving it a debt to equity ratio of 43.4 percent. TWTR management last reported a cash position of $3.56 billion. TWTR shares pay no dividend.
Major institutional holders of TWTR shares at March 31 included Fidelity Management and Research, the largest shareholder, who held about 39 million shares or almost 6 percent of TWTR shares outstanding. Other major TWTR shareholders included: Morgan Stanley, The Vanguard Group, Ameriprise Financial, and State Street Corporation.
Twitter first offered TWTR shares publicly in 2013. Since then, they have lost about 18.5 percent, compared with a gain of 13.1 percent from the broad Dow Jones Industrial Average over the same period.
[Photo by Andrew Burton / Getty Images]
