Twitter ($TWTR) is seeing rising engagement, thanks to everyone being effectively locked indoors, but its hiring isn't moving at the same clip.
CEO Jack Dorsey, who also heads payment company Square, announced he'd donate $1 billion to COVID-19 causes worldwide, setting his public perception far apart from other CEOs who spent the crisis applying for federal bailout funds meant for small businesses, and laying off staffers.
Shares are only down slightly in 2020, compared to broader indices - and analysts tracked by Zacks Investment Research are looking for no earnings - $0.00 - when Twitter announces results April 30.
Twitter's Google Play Store ratings count - a proxy of engagement, because it shows how often a user rates a product - crossed 15 million earlier this year, and has been rising ever so slightly, with greater trajectory, since the lockdown began.
In the Google Play Store, Twitter has a rating of more than 4.25-out-of-5 and rising in 2020; in the Apple Store, it's lower.
However, Twitter has slashed more than 57% of job postings since hitting a multi-year peak earlier in 2020. Twitter is primarily slowing growth in marketing, communications, and software engineering departments.
It's not an uncommon story for top social apps - and we saw the same for Snap, which surprised investors to the upside recently with an earnings beat that sent shares higher. Despite Snap's less-than-stellar results post-IPO, there have been signals that the company was keeping above water with users, leading up to the outbreak. Leading up to its earnings announcment, Snap hiring fell - although, with so many people facing limited entertainment options outside their smartphones - it remains to be seen how long social media stocks' slump will continue. We'll get a better sense once Twitter's earnings are out.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
Further Reading:
- Airtable data signals growth as unicorn takes on more investment capital
- Zoom job postings may be slowing - that doesn't mean it's not still growing
- Teladoc engagement is soaring as people seek out remote health access
