Twitter stock fell 10% this week after the company announced third quarter earnings which failed to live up to analysts’ expectations.
Significantly, Twitter reported that its Monthly Average Users (MAU) grew by only 4.8% this past quarter, now totaling 284 million users within a given month. Compared to the first quarter of 2014 which brought a 5.8% MAU growth, and the second quarter which reported a 6.2% MAU growth, the third quarter seems to be informing investors that Twitter’s popularity is decreasing, not increasing.
In our September 17th, Daily News Report, we informed readers that Twitter’s current strategy is to cash in via affiliate marketing, by selling products directly from its social-network platform. Analysts expect that the market for digital advertising on mobile devices will reach $36 billion this year. At this point, Facebook and Twitter will be competing for that pie, but with the numbers we’re seeing currently, Twitter will have to re-boost its popularity to get back in the race.
Baidu Releases Stellar Earnings
This week marked another milestone in the story of Baidu, China’s leading search engine, often referred to as “the Google of China.” Similarly to Facebook, and Twitter, Baidu seeks to expand its presence on mobile devices, investing $2.7 billion since the start of 2013 in a variety of projects to propel them forward mobile-wise.
Compared to the third quarter of 2013, Baidu’s revenue of this past quarter marked a 52% increase in revenue. In the past three months, the company’s revenue was $2.2 billion, making its EPS $1.79 per share. Baidu’s chairman, Robin Li told reporters: “This quarter, mobile traffic surpassed PC traffic and mobile revenue contributed 36 percent of our total revenue.”
EUR/USD News
In the past week, the value of the Euro has decreased relative to the US Dollar, as investors regained confidence in the dollar after a highly-anticipated FOMC rate decision was released. Positive earnings reports from a wide variety of S&P 500 companies have surely contributed to the dollar’s strength, and traders are expecting good numbers for next week’s NFP Event. Currently trading around 1.25887 USD per 1 Euro, analysts are expecting a strengthening dollar.
