#brightfuture for Twitter as earnings report approaches

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Social media platform Twitter’s stock has risen more than 40 percent since April as the company gears up to release its quarterly earnings report.

The company’s share price was given a shot in the arm after it revealed better-than-expected user growth.

Twitter said April it had 328 million users worldwide, a figure expected to grow by 6 percent monthly.

“For a company that people thought six months ago was knocking on death’s door and going the way of Myspace and AOL, the double-digit rebound and the continued acceleration in users has really surprised investors,” Richard Greenfield, an analyst from BTIG Research, said.

There were fears on Wall Street that Twitter was about to bite the dust. /AFP

Shares in Twitter closed at 19.97 US dollars on Tuesday, up 41.4 percent on a low of 14.12 US dollars in April.

A new wave of interest is certain to be a morale boost for Twitter, which has limped through past earnings announcements and struggled to maintain a stable management structure.

It has also had to deal with unfavorable comparisons to its bigger and more lucrative competitor, Facebook.

Analysts expect Twitter to post quarterly revenue of 536.6 million US dollars, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S forecast report.

Twitter's nearest competitor is social media giant Facebook. /AFP

While the figure is reassuring, it still represents a drop of 10.9 percent on the 602 million US dollars the company posted for the same quarter last year.

But it’s not necessarily the cash that pleases investors, but the number of people using the service.

“People are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt if they start to grow again,” said analyst Michael Pachter from Wedbush Securities.

(With input from Reuters)

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