Shares of Twitter slid nearly 10 percent on Thursday following earnings. But Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO and Twitter shareholder Josh Brown is sticking with the name, saying that "big picture this was a great quarter for revenue" and "things are going well and I'm happy from what I heard as a shareholder."
On Thursday the social media company reported earnings per share and revenue that beat analyst expectations, but guidance fell short of estimates. Twitter also said it would no longer report monthly active users, and that it expects operating expenses to rise 20% in the coming year.
In response the stock shed nearly 10 percent for its worst daily performance since December.
Brown is betting on the stock long-term, however, because he believes the company can continue to attract advertising dollars and grow its revenue. And he also notes that while the platform has fewer daily active users than competitors like Facebook and Snap, the Twitter user base is highly engaged.
"I think Twitter is on its way to becoming a billion dollar quarterly revenue run rate name, and there aren't a lot of them in social media. It's a legitimate advertising platform where two years ago we were questioning whether or not there was even viability for Twitter as an advertising platform," he said Thursday on CNBC's "Halftime Report." "The real story is daily active users, 126 million users everyday checking in on the platform. They're being monetized. I think things are going well and I'm happy from what I heard as a shareholder," he added.
Monthly and daily active users are a key metric for social media companies because it shows popularity and therefore advertising potential, and it also allows for comparison between platforms.
Twitter reported 321 monthly active users -- in-line with analyst expectations -- but that was a decline of 9 million users from a year earlier. The company said that going forward it would no longer report monthly active users, but instead focus on another metric: monetizable daily active users.
According to Twitter the platform has 126 million daily active users, which is significantly smaller than competitors Snap and Facebook. In a letter to shareholders Twitter said its monetizable daily active users number is not comparable to other social platforms since peers tend to share "a more expansive metric that includes people who are not seeing ads."
Brown believes the slowdown in monthly active users is irrelevant since it follows an effort by the company to delete fake and malicious accounts. Brown also notes that Twitter's user base includes "the most important people in the world" like "global leaders, global religious figures, the biggest celebrities." He also notes that when it comes to live events like the Olympics and elections, Twitter is the go-to platform for instantaneous coverage and reactions, which he believes is valuable from the standpoint of advertising.
"Nobody comes even close to the amount of engagement on an election night or the Super Bowl … and advertisers are buying into that story. They are spending money on the platform … As a shareholder, again, I don't expect the stock to work all the time. I think long-term it will," he said.
Shares of the San Francisco-based company climbed to a 52-week high of $47.79 on June 15, but have since slid nearly 35 percent.
- Josh Brown owns shares of Twitter. CNBC'S Lauren Feiner contributed reporting.