Shares of Twilio (TWLO -1.97%) rocketed as much as 18% higher on Thursday, powered by an impressive earnings report. The stock cooled down to a still-impressive 16% gain by 3 p.m. ET.
Leaving analyst targets in the dust
The Street consensus had called for third-quarter earnings of roughly $0.86 per share on sales near $1.09 billion. Instead, Twilio's revenues rose 10% year over year to $1.13 billion. Adjusted earnings jumped 76% to land at $1.02 per diluted share.
The provider of software and services for consumer-facing communication apps has been focusing on fiscal discipline and cost controls in recent quarters, and the effort is paying off in the form of strong profit margins. At the same time, Twilio's revenue streams benefit from a stronger economy and several successful feature launches in recent months.
Where Twilio's business trends are going
Twilio's sales are accelerating again after a couple of slow years. Earnings and cash flows are also bouncing back strongly. Meanwhile, the stock is down 82% from the all-time highs seen in 2021 even after Thursday's big jump.
Twilio shares are available at the modest price of 24 times trailing earnings and 3 times sales. That's not much for a proven growth stock that looks ready to get back into high-octane business action.
