Twilio shares surge on better-than-expected earnings, revenue and guidance

KEY POINTS

• Twilio beat on earnings, revenue and guidance.
• The company's stock is up 200 percent since the beginning of the year.

Twilio Inc. founder and CEO Jeff Lawson (C, in glasses) reacts after ringing the opening bell to celebrate Twilio's initial public offering, at the New York Stock Exchange, June 23, 2016 in New York City.

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Twilio shares jumped more than 12 percent on Tuesday after the cloud software company reported third-quarter results that beat expectations and provided guidance that also topped analysts' estimates.

Here are the key numbers:

• Earnings: 7 cents per share, excluding certain items, vs. 2 cents per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
• Revenue: $168.9 million, vs. $150.4 million as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.

Revenue jumped 68 percent from a year earlier, according to a statement.

Twilio's after-hours gains mark the continuation of an extended rally, dating back to the company's public market debut in 2016. The stock has more than tripled this year.

The company's forecast provided further reason for optimism. Twilio, which provides software that companies use for managing communications like text messages and video, said it's expecting fourth-quarter earnings of 3 cents to 4 cents per share, excluding certain items, on $183 million to $185 million in revenue. Analysts were expecting profit of 2 cents per share on $161.4 million in sales, according to Refinitiv.

Twilio announced last month that it's acquiring email marketing company SendGrid for $2 billion. SendGrid shares rose 10 percent on Tuesday after the company beat expectations for earnings and revenue.

Uber represented 4 percent of Twilio's revenue in the quarter, down from 8 percent in all of 2017, and that starting in 2019 Twilio will not disclose revenue figures excluding Uber, outgoing Chief Financial Officer Lee Kirkpatrick said on a conference call with analysts on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Facebook's WhatsApp business was responsible for 6 percent of Twilio's third-quarter revenue, which is in line with its role in Twilio's business in 2017, Kirkpatrick said.

Twilio, which competes with the likes of Avaya and Cisco, said it had 61,153 active customer accounts as of Sept. 30, up 31 percent year over year.

WATCH: Twilio to buy email marketing platform SendGrid for $2 billion