Tuesday 28 July 2015 4:26 pm

Twitter share price jumps as second quarter results smash expectations

Twitter's second-quarter earnings cheered investors and shed a positive light on Jack Dorsey's future as chief executive.

The figures

During the three months ended June, the social media company's revenue was $502m (£322m) and its earnings-per-share were $0.07.

Both these figures beat market expectations by a considerable distance, with analysts having predicted a revenue of $481m and earnings-per-share of $0.04.

The firm's shares went up in value following the news, rising 4.8 per cent to $38.34 in after-hours trading. Yesterday they closed 5.4 per cent higher at $36.54.

Why it's interesting

Since Dick Costolo resigned as head of the company earlier this year, co-founder Dorsey has taken over on a temporary basis.

At the end of the first quarter, Twitter reported very negative results, and its stock has since declined 29 per cent in value.

Markets expected another poor three months in the second quarter, so today's results have come as a very positive surprise and given Dorsey a boost in the contest to become permanent head.

Adam Bain, head of global revenue and partnerships, is considered the other frontrunner to take the job, but today may have swung the balance in favour of Dorsey.

Alongside Twitter, Dorsey is also head of mobile payments company Square, which is reportedly going public this year.

What Twitter said

Dorsey said the results showed “good progress”, but that more work was required on user growth. Monthly active users increased by 15 per cent to 315m in the second quarter compared to last year:

In order to realize Twitter’s full potential, we must improve in three key areas: ensure more disciplined execution, simplify our service to deliver Twitter's value faster, and better communicate that value.