Twilio is yet to surprise the markets and investors hinting at higher than expected revenues in its latest filing with the SEC. The company also announced new products and initiatives at its recently held Signal conference.
On Thursday, October, the San Francisco-based cloud communications platform Twilio Inc (NYSE: TWLO) submitted its filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) noting that its Q3 2020 results will be better than its previous forecast. The TWLO shares price jumped 10% in the aftermarket hours on Thursday. As of Thursday closing, Twilio stock was trading at $256.96 at the closing bell. The stock is already trading at a 150% premium year-to-date. At the time of writing, in the pre-market, TWLO shares are 9% up, at 278.99.
Previously, the company said it expects its earnings for Q3 2020 somewhere between $401-$406 million. However, Thursday’s statement came as a surprise to its investors on Wall Street. In the filing to the SEC, the company wrote:
“Twilio Inc. (the “Company”) announces that it preliminarily expects that the Company’s total revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2020 will be ahead of the Company’s previously issued guidance of $401 million to $406 million.”
If we look at the company’s previous results, Twilio has been consistently exceeding management expectations in three of the last four quarters. In Q1 2020, Twilio’s total revenue exceeded management’s expectations by 8%. Similarly, in Q2 2020, it exceeded by 8.3%.
At the previous earnings expectations of $406, Twilio Inc’s revenue for Q3 2020 would account for 36% growth. So if we go by the past and consider another 8% jump over management expectations, we can expect Twilio to clock $440 million approximately for Q3 2020. Twilio, the communications software company is facing increasing competition from giants like Microsoft. However, it has still managed to hold its market position, strong and steady. Besides, it also has the first-mover-advantage with a broad portfolio and excellent reputation.
Twilio’s Announcements at Signal Conference
Earlier on Wednesday, September 30, Twilio hosted its annual Signal conference to make some interesting announcements. The company announced its new free video service – Video Web RTC Go – allowing users to add 1:1 video chats to their web and mobile applications.
This service allows 10,000 participant minutes or 25 GB of bandwidth through Twilio’s relays per month. Speaking to TechCrunch, Twilio’s Senior Director for Platform and Developer Experience, Quinton Wall said:
“Twilio Video WebRTC Go is a free tier and a free offering for developers to get started building those one to one video connections for things like distance learning, client consultations — all of those things that you might have a need for in these new use cases that we’ve seen evolve through the pandemic.”
The second major announcement is its new IoT service: the Microvisor IoT platform. This platform aims to give all embedded developers the necessary tools to build connected devices. Besides, it also aims at giving them lifecycle management tools for future updates. Twilio’s new IoT platform aims at reducing the failure rate of projects in the IoT industry, which is currently high.
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