Snapchat posts highest revenue and user growth in 4 years

Snapchat's stock was up over 13% in after-hours trading Thursday after reported its highest revenue and user growth numbers since 2018.

Why it matters: The record numbers are part of a huge turnaround story for Snapchat, which struggled to grow in line with Wall Street's expectations for years prior to the pandemic.

• Snapchat's share price Thursday hovers around $65, which is more than 10 times its value in 2019.

By the numbers, via CNBC:

• "Adjusted earnings per share: 10 cents vs. 1 cent loss forecast by Refinitiv"
• "Revenue: $982 million vs. $846 million forecast by Refinitiv"
• "Global daily active users (DAUs): 293 million vs. 290.3 million per StreetAccount"
• "Average revenue per user (ARPU): $3.35 vs. $2.92 per StreetAccount"

Details: In prepared remarks, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel credited progress to the company's investments in new products and technologies, like AR and video.

• Snapchat now has more than 200 million users that engage with AR everyday on average, Spiegel noted. There are over 200,000 creators who use Snapchat's "Lens Studio" developer tools to build AR Lenses on Snapchat.
• Snap Original Shows, Spiegel says, reach more than 30 million unique users in the U.S. The company says it added 177 new international Discover channels last quarter to support its international growth strategy and deepen engagement.
• Spiegel notes that engagement with its TikTok rival feature called "Spotlight" is growing globally, with a 49% quarter-over-quarter growth and with the average content submissions tripling compared to the prior quarter.

Between the lines: Snap's chief business officer Jeremy Gorman also noted in prepared remarks that changes to Apple's privacy terms didn't impact the company's ad revenue growth as much as it had anticipated.

Go deeper:

• Snapchat Q1 2021 earnings
• Snapchat Q4 2020 earnings