Twitter stock plunges on user growth miss, low guidance

Twitter's stock was down nearly 10% in after-hours trading on Thursday, after the company issued weak second quarter guidance on revenue growth. The tech giant also reported user growth just shy of Wall Street expectations.

Yes, but: Twitter still reported strong ad sales growth, a sign of the resiliency of its core business throughout the pandemic.

Details: Despite missing the mark on user growth, Twitter beat Wall Street estimates on revenue and earnings per share for the first quarter.

• Ad sales, it said, were up 32% year-over-year, reaching $899 million.
• On average, the company says it now has 199 million average monetizable daily active users (mDAU), up 20% year-over-year and up 7 million from the previous quarter.
• It attributes user increases to "ongoing product improvements and global conversation around current events."
• Twitter it says next quarter it expects to bring in revenues between $980 million and $1.08 billion.

By the numbers:

• Earnings: 16 cents per share, adjusted, vs. 14 cents forecast by Refinitiv
• Revenue: $1.04 billion vs. $1.03 billion forecast by Refinitiv
• Monetizable daily active users: 199 million vs. 200 million expected forecast by FactSet

The big picture: Twitter was the last of the major ad-based tech giants to report first quarter metrics. Like its rivals, it addressed the Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, which is expected to impact the digital ad landscape broadly.

• The company said while "it is still too early to understand the full impact of Apple’s iOS 14.5 changes," Twitter has integrated Apple's developer ad network into its programming interface, which has allowed it to reach more iOS devices, potentially helping to mitigate the impact of Apple's changes.

What's next: The company said it expects revenues to grow faster than expenses this year, even with Apple's changes.

Flashback: Twitter beats on earnings for Q4, says expenses will balloon