Jeff Lawson
Abigail Stevenson | CNBC
Twilio shares were up as much as 25% in extended trading on Wednesday after the company reported first-quarter results and quarterly guidance that surpassed analysts’ estimates. The company’s shares exceeded the $149.95 record close from July 2019.
The company reported:
- Earnings: 6 cents per share, adjusted
- Revenue: $364.9 million
Revenue grew 57% on an annualized basis, down from 62% growth in the prior quarter.
Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had expected a loss of 11 cents per share on an adjusted basis and $331.25 million in revenue. However, comparisons are not straightforward given the unpredictable effect of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns.
For the second quarter, Twilio’s forecast called for a loss of 11 cents to 8 cents per share on an adjusted basis, and $365 million to $370 million in revenue. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had been looking for an adjusted loss of 13 cents per share on $336.9 million in revenue.
“In many ways Twilio was built for this moment,” Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson said during a conference call with analysts. on Wednesday. Although the company has seen a decline in the ride-sharing market in the quarter — Lyft and Uber both use the company’s technology — Twilio saw an increase in the use of its services for distributed contact centers and telehealth as of late, he said.
Twilio reported over 190,000 active customer accounts at the end of the quarter, while analysts polled by FactSet had expected 185,595.
The company withdrew its full-year guidance as the company given uncertainty with coronavirus cases continuing to mount.
“Given the strength of our balance sheet, as well as the size of the opportunity in front of us, our intention is to continue investing through the cycle,” said Khozema Shipchandler, Twilio’s finance chief. “We believe this is in the best interest of Twilio and our stakeholders and will continue to generate elevated growth outcomes for the foreseeable future, enabling us to come out of this current environment in an even stronger position.”
Notwithstanding the after-hours move, Twilio shares were up about 25% since the beginning of the year.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Twilio’s revenue guidance for Q2. The company is guiding between $365 million and $370 million.