Twitter Results Top Estimates

(RTTNews) - Micro-blogging site Twitter Inc (TWTR) said Tuesday after the markets closed that its second quarter net loss narrowed from last year, as revenue surged 61%.

The company's quarterly earnings per share, excluding items, came in above analysts' expectations as did its quarterly revenue.

At the same time, the company gave an upbeat revenue outlook for the current quarter and raised the low end of its full year revenue outlook range.

"Our Q2 results show good progress in monetization, but we are not satisfied with our growth in audience," said Jack Dorsey, interim CEO of Twitter. "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."

Twitter shares are currently losing 6.02% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $36.54, up $1.84 or 5.30%. The shares trade ina 52-wek range of $33.51 to $55.99.

For the second quarter ended June 30, 2015, the San Francisco, California-based company reported a net loss of $136.7 million or $0.21 per share, compared to a net loss of $144.6 million or $0.24 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the second quarter was $48.5 million or $0.07 per share, compared to $14.6 million or $0.02 per share in the prior year quarter.

On average, 34 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.04 per share for the second quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the second quarter rose 61% to $502.38 million from $312.17 million in the same quarter last year. Excluding the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates, second quarter revenue would have increased 68%. Thirty-three analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $481.28 million for the second quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.04 per share on revenue of $481.28 million for the second quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Advertising revenue for the quarter surged 63% year-over-year to $452 million. Mobile advertising revenue was 88% of total advertising revenue.

International revenue climbed 78% year-over-year to $181 million and constituted 36% of total revenue.

Twitter said average Monthly Active Users for the second quarter were 316 million, an increase of 15% year-over-year and an increase of 14 million from the prior quarter. Twitter is still trying to catch up with social networking giant Facebook Inc. (FB), which has 1.44 billion users.

Looking forward, the company forecasts third quarter revenue of $545 million to $560 million.

The company now forecasts full year 2015 revenue to be in the range of $2.20 billion to $2.27 billion, compared to its prior guidance of $2.17 billion to $2.27 billion.

Analysts currently expect the company to post revenue of $555.78 million for the third quarter and $2.20 billion for the full year 2015.

Dorsey replaced former CEO Dick Costolo earlier this month on an interim basis. Twitter is in the process of searching a new CEO, but has said it will only consider candidates who are in a position to make a full-time commitment to the company.