Twitter swings to 1Q loss despite revenue growth as costs up

Twitter posted a loss in the first quarter as the social media company's higher expenses outweighed revenue growth.

The San Francisco company reported Thursday that average daily users grew 24% year over year, the highest ever growth rate in the company's history. Twitter has added 14 million daily users since the previous quarter. The company said growth was driven by seasonal strength, product improvements and interest in coronavirus.

Last year, Twitter started disclosing its daily user base, or the number of users who log in at least once a day and see ads on the platform. The daily metric has replaced its monthly user count, which Twitter said it will no longer disclose. Other companies, such as Facebook, give both daily and monthly counts.

For the three months ended in March, Twitter posted a loss of $8.4 million, or 1 cent per share, on revenue of $807.6 million. A year ago, the company earned $190.8 million, or 25 cents per share, on a big tax benefit. Revenue totaled USD 786.9 million.

On average analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast quarterly earnings per share of 10 cents on revenue of $783 million. The company previously withdrew full-year financial guidance and said Thursday it's not providing second-quarter estimates either. Shares jumped 4.9 per cent in premarket trading.