=Twitter (TWTR) reported earnings on Thur 9 Feb 2017 (b/o)

Twitter beats by $0.04, misses on revs; issues disappointing guidance :

• Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.16 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.12; revenues rose 0.9% year/year to $717 mln vs the $738.74 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Revenue Breakdown
  • Advertising revenue totaled $638 million, down slightly year-over-year.
  • Mobile advertising revenue was 89% of total advertising revenue.
  • Data licensing and other revenue totaled $79 million, an increase of 14% year-over-year.
  • US revenue totaled $440 million, a decrease of 5% year-over-year.
  • International revenue totaled $277 million, an increase of 12% year-over-year.  
• Total ad engagements were up 151% year-over-year.
• Cost per engagement (CPE) was down 60% year-over-year. 
• Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $215 million, up 12% year-over-year, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 30%, versus 27% in 2015.
• Average monthly active users (MAUs) were 319 million for Q4, up 4% year-over-year and compared to 317 million in the previous quarter.
  • Average US MAUs were 67 million for Q4, up 3% year-over-year and flat compared to 67 million in the previous quarter.  
  • Average international MAUs were 252 million for Q4, up 5% year-over-year and compared to 250 million in the previous quarter.
  • Mobile MAUs represented 83% of total MAUs.
• DAU grew 11% year-over-year, an acceleration from 7% in Q3'16, 5% in Q2'16, and 3% in Q1'16.

Guidance

• Expect advertising revenue growth to continue to lag that of audience growth in 2017. Advertising revenue growth may be further impacted by escalating competition for digital ad spending and the re-evaluation of our revenue product feature portfolio, which could result in the de-emphasis of certain product features.
• Q1
  • Adjusted EBITDA to be between $75 million and $95 million, well below expectations;
  • Adjusted EBITDA margin to be between 17% and 17.5%
  • SBC to be between $125 and $135 million.
• FY17
  • Total non-GAAP expenses to be flat to down 5%, compared to full year 2016;  
  • SBC to be down 15% to 20%, compared to full year 2016;
  • Capital expenditures to be between $300 and $400 million.