Twitter 1Q revenue forecast misses estimates

Twitter reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and revenue on Thursday, helped by growth in its video advertising business.

Shares moved lower in the premarket as the company's first-quarter revenue outlook is lower than Wall Street forecasts.

The social media company posted a decline in monthly active users, due in part to its campaign of deleting millions of abusive accounts after facing criticism it was being used as a platform for political influence operations and hate speech.

For its current quarter, Twitter said it expected total revenue to be between $715 million and $775 million. The midpoint of that range was below analysts' average estimate of $765 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

"2018 is proof that our long-term strategy is working. Our efforts to improve health have delivered important results, and new product features like a single switch to move between latest and most relevant Tweets have been embraced by the people who use Twitter," said Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO. "We enter this year confident that we will continue to deliver strong performance by focusing on making Twitter a healthier and more conversational service."

The company, however, reported a better-than-expected 24 percent increase in fourth-quarter revenue, helped by growth in its video advertising business.

Overall revenue rose to $909 million in the quarter, beating the estimate of $868.2 million.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP

Total advertising revenue rose 23 percent to $791 million. More than half that revenue came from video ads placed by corporate clients.

Excluding some items, Twitter reported quarterly profit of 31 cents per share, beating the average estimate of 25 cents.