Jeff Lawson CEO, Twilio
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
Twilio shares rose more than 10% in expanded trading on Wednesday after the cloud communications company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results, including a surprising adjusted gain.
This is how the company did it:
- Merits: 4 cents per share, adjusted, vs. loss of 8 cents per share as expected by analysts, Refinitiv said.
- Revenue: $ 548.1 million, versus $ 454.8 million as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Revenue grew by 65% year on year in the quarter, compared to growth of 52% in the previous quarter, according to a statement.
Twilio added 13,000 active customer accounts in the fourth quarter, bringing the total to 221,000, compared to an increase of 8,000 in the third quarter. The company provides tools that developers can use to add text messages, voice and video calls, emails, and other features to applications. Twilio also offers cloud-based contact center software that businesses can rely on for their agents’ interactions with customers.
“The pandemic has accelerated change overnight,” Jeff Lawson, Twilio co-founder and its CEO, said on a conference call with analysts. “Healthcare needed to accelerate the adoption of telemedicine and e-commerce companies accelerated their e-commerce plans. Companies that hired more developers and improved their digital game during the pandemic are not going back.”
Political activities contributed $ 23 million to revenues in the quarter, said Khozema Shipchandler, the company’s chief financial officer.
In terms of guidance, Twilio sees an adjusted loss of 12 cents to 9 cents per share on $ 526 million to $ 536 million in revenue in the first quarter, implying revenue growth of approximately 44% to 47%. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected an adjusted loss of 2 cents per share on $ 492.1 million in revenue.
Despite the out-of-hours move, Twilio shares are up about 22% since the start of the year, compared to a less than 5% rise for the S&P 500 index over the same period.
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