It’s a rare positive earnings season for Twitter. The firm reported narrowing losses, an operating profit, and a rise in active users today (Oct. 26). Investors lapped it up, sending the stock up about 13% in early trading.
That’s despite a continued downtrend in revenue, which fell 4% year-on-year to $590 million, and the third straight quarter of revenue declines, as Recode pointed out. Twitter also admitted an error in the way it tallied up its user base, meaning it over-counted its users by 2 million for the previous quarter. It added 4 million users in the third quarter, bringing its (correctly counted) total to 330 million monthly active users.
Twitter’s forward guidance for the fourth quarter also indicated that the company could be profitable for the first time since going public in 2013. “We also expect that at the high end of our adjusted EBITDA range, we will likely be GAAP profitable,” its earnings report says. It’s been a long time coming.