Twitter Beats In Q1 With $250M In Revenue And Picks Up 14M New Monthly Active Users

Twitter released its first quarter financial performance this afternoon, reporting revenue of $250 million in the period, and earnings per share of $0.00 on a non-GAAP basis. The street had expected Twitter to report revenue of $241.5 million, and a three cent per-share loss.

That non-GAAP $0.00 EPS is slightly occlusive — the company in fact had non-GAAP net income of $183,000 in the period, or about the cost of one engineer’s yearly cost to a tech company. However, when you stretch $183,000 across more than half a billion shares, it doesn’t go far.

Twitter’s revenue is up 119% year-over-year. On a GAAP basis, Twitter lost a stunning $132 million in the period. That amounts to a GAAP net loss of $0.23 per share.

Twitter reported that it had 255 million monthly active users. In the sequentially preceding quarter, Twitter had reported 241 million monthly active users. That’s growth of 14 million in the three-month period, or around 5.8%.

The company’s monthly active user count has only grown 25% in the past year. Monthly mobile active users were stronger at 198 million. That figure is up 31% in the past year. However, it remains modest. Investors appear concerned that despite quickly expanding revenue, Twitter’s days of massive user growth are over. That means lower future top and bottom line growth.

78% of Twitter’s users access the site from a mobile device.

Twitter’s stock rose strongly in regular trading, up nearly 6%. The markets were up more modest fractions. In after-hours trading, following the report of its earnings, Twitter’s stock is down more than 8%.

In the sequentially preceding quarter, Twitter reported a non-GAAP profit of $0.02 per share, and revenue of $242.7 million.

Twitter expects its second quarter revenue to come in between $270 and $280 million. Full year 2014 top line should be between $1.20 and $1.25 billion, coming in on the low end of expectations.

That aside, Twitter’s $2.2 billion in cash and equivalents is right where it was before the quarter started, meaning that the company has plenty of runway to execute on whatever its plans may be.

ILLUSTRATION BY BRYCE DURBIN