By Daniel Shvartsman
Investing.com - Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) shares soared 22% in after-hours trading after the communications platform posted a big revenue beat amid market skepticism.
Twilio reported revenue of $842.7M, well ahead of both analyst estimates of $774.46M and the company's prior guidance of $760-$770M. This was 54% growth on the prior year quarter. The company's non-GAAP net loss per share was $.20, which was slightly better than expectations of -$.21.
“Our fourth quarter capped off an amazing year of results as we delivered more than $2.8 billion in revenue for the year, growing 61% year-over-year,” said Jeff Lawson, Twilio’s Co-Founder and CEO. “The combination of our leading cloud communications platform with Twilio Segment's #1 customer data platform gives Twilio an unparalleled view into the customer journey, and I've never been more excited about the future of the company than I am today."
Twilio's gross margins came in at 47%, a drop both from Q3's 49.3% and the year prior's 51.5%, a sign that the quarter was fueled by the company's classic communications software. Segment, one of Twilio's recent acquisitions, contributed $57.4M in revenue, while another acquisition, Zipwhip, provided $31.8M in revenue.
Twilio's dollar-based net expansion rate was 126%, though 130% when excluding political revenue, the latter in line with last year's figure.
Twilio's guidance for Q1 2022 is for $855-$865M in revenue, 45-47% ahead of last year's number and with 32-34% organic growth. They also forecast a non-GAAP loss of $.22-.26/share. The revenue number is well ahead of analyst expectations of $807.7M, which may be fueling the share rise, even as the earnings loss is forecast to be wider than analyst estimates.