Twitter edges lower after reporting flat user numbers

Shares in Twitter were sent packing after the company reported that user growth numbers topped out at the end of 2015 and provided lower-than-expected financial guidance.

Nevertheless, the company did manage to beat analysts' forecasts for earnings.

The social media platform said it registered a net loss of $90.2m for the fourth quarter, equivalent to 13 cents per share, in comparison to the $125m or 20 cents of red ink it reported a year ago.

In adjusted terms, EPS came in at 16 cents, ahead of the 12 cents which the number-crunchers on Wall Street had pencilled in.

Twitter's reported revenues rose from $479.1m in the year earlier period to $710.1m.

However, the company said the number of its monthly active users was flat on the previous quarter at 320m.

For the first three months of 2016, the tech firm said it was expecting sales of between $595m to $610m, below the $633m the consensus had been discounting.

As of 1509 GMT shares in Twitter were 1.49% lower at $14.76.