Twitter’s double-digit rebound surprises analysts and investors

TWITTER heads towards its quarterly earnings report today with a stock that has risen more than 40 percent since April when much of Wall Street was ready to write off the tech company.

The company’s share price popped after its most recent earnings report in April, when Twitter disclosed better-than-expected user growth.

The number of people on Twitter will be in sharp focus today, when investors and analysts will see if it has kept up the 6 percent year-on-year growth in monthly active users it reported in April.

Twitter said then that it had 328 million users.

“For a company that people thought six months ago was knocking on death’s door and going the way of Myspace and AOL, the double-digit rebound and the continued acceleration in users has really surprised investors,” BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield said.

Twitter shares closed on Tuesday at $19.97 (R260.34), nearly flat on the day but up 41.4 percent since its stock hit a low of $14.12 on April 17.

The S&P 500 information technology index is up 10.6 percent since its April 17 closing price.

The surge of interest is a morale boost for Twitter, which has limped through past earnings announcements, struggled to keep a stable management and suffered unfavourable comparisons to its bigger and more profitable competitor, Facebook.

This month, Twitter had a streak of 12 days when its shares closed up.

The business is expected to report quarterly revenue of $536.6 million.