Twitter Inc. reported its first profit as a publicly traded company during its most recent quarter, but failed to increase its monthly active user base during the period.
The social media giant reported fourth-quarter 2017 GAAP net income of $91 million, or 12 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $167 million or 23 cents per share, in the year-ago period. The S&P Capital IQ consensus EPS estimate for the quarter was 2 cents on a GAAP basis and 14 cents on a normalized basis.
MAUs stayed roughly flat at 330 million from the previous quarter, but DAUs, or daily active users, bumped up 12% year over year.
Speaking on an earnings call Feb. 8, Twitter executives attributed the stagnant MAU figure to a change Apple Inc. made to the Safari browser's third-party app integration and to seasonality that is often negative during the fourth quarter.
Twitter has also experienced a number of high-level executive exits throughout the past year. Former COO Anthony Noto, who was key to the company's marketing and revenue-generating efforts, including its shift into live video, resigned in January.
CEO Jack Dorsey said a group of Twitter executives will assume Noto's roles and that the company has no immediate plans to find a replacement.
Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017, was $731.6 million, up 2% year over year from $717 million. Looking ahead, the company said it expects to report first-quarter 2018 adjusted EBITDA between $185 million and $205 million.
