After delivering an impressive performance in Q2, Twitter (TWTR) came up with a mixed Q3 and a slightly disappointing guidance. The social networking site then saw a downward drift in its share price as it failed to live up to many investors' expectation (read: Twitter Tweets a Solid Q2, ETFs Jump).
Q3 in Detail
The company's third-quarter 2014 GAAP loss per share (including the stock-based compensation expense) of 27 cents was in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Excluding the stock-based compensation expense, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share on a pro forma basis. Revenues of $361 million in the quarter beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $352 million. Revenues more than doubled from the year-ago period.
The company finished the quarter with an average 284 million monthly active users, up 4.8% quarter over quarter and about 23% year over year. Advertising revenue per thousand timeline views increased 83% year over year.
As much as 85% of Twitter's advertising dollars came from mobile advertising. Growth in international revenues remained extremely robust at about 176%. Notably, international revenues account for one-third of total revenue.
However, the outlook was unsatisfactory. Twitter anticipates its total revenue for the fourth quarter to range between $440 million and $450 million which is well below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $469 million. Also, per Reuters, a decline in timeline views was the real cause of investors' impatience over Twitter. Notably, the company has seen a fall in timeline views for four successive quarters.
Several analysts believe that a high level of expectation was ...
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