Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) stock was up 4.4% in mid-afternoon trading on February 26 as the NASDAQ enjoyed a rebound from the previous trading session. Shares of the social media giant have climbed over 40% in 2021 so far. The stock is up over 120% year over year. Twitter has parried criticisms and political traps to become one of the more promising tech stocks.
The company released its fourth quarter and full year 2020 results on February 9. Revenue rose 7% from the prior year to $3.72 billion. Its revenue jumped 29% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. This was due to improved performance across all major products and geographies. Total advertising revenue jumped 31% from 2019.
Despite the improvement, Twitter still posted a net loss of $1.14 billion. This represents a net margin of negative 31% and a diluted earnings per share of $1.44.
Twitter expects to grow its head count by 20% in 2021. It aims to bolster staff in engineering, product, design, and research. Total costs and expenses will expand alongside these increases. Still, Twitter anticipates that revenues will outpace expenses in 2021.
Founder and CEO Jack Dorsey addressed investors concerns this past week. Dorsey said that the company lagged technologically when he came back as CEO several years ago. The company was forced to "start from scratch" to right the ship. Twitter has worked closely with critics who have claimed that the company has fostered an erosion in public trust of institutions.
