Twitter's Stock Surge Defies Recent History Of Sharp Post-results Selloffs

Twitter Inc.'s stock surged 4.1% in afternoon trade Tuesday, putting it on track to close at a 7-week high, ahead of the social network company's first-quarter results scheduled for after the closing bell. It's a bit curious that the stock would be rising so much before results, considering that strategy hasn't worked too well the last few quarters. The stock has dropped on the day after the last four quarterly reports were released, by an average of 6.7%, according to FactSet. If the 18% plunge on April 28, 2015 is used, instead of the 8.9% drop on April 29--the results were released inadvertently before the closing bell, about an hour earlier than intended--the average one-day, post-results decline, would be 9.7%. And that was after the stock gained ground, by an average of nearly 4%, the day before the past three quarterly reports. The stock has gained 7.5% so far this month, but has still tumbled 23% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.1% this year.