Amid all the excitement about Elon Musk buying Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and taking it private, there’s still one nearly overlooked item coming up this week – TWTR stock earnings. The social media platform is expected to report first quarter earnings tomorrow before the opening bell. And all eyes, including those of the would-be owner and chief executive officer, will be on the numbers reporting revenue, profit, monthly average users and other metrics. However, the company will not be hosting an earnings call with analysts to discuss the results.
Expectations are pretty low. Analysts expect Twitter to post revenues of $1.22 billion when it reports earnings on Apr. 28. That would be an improvement of 18.1% from a year ago. But analysts believe profits will be way down. They’re expecting earnings per share of 5 cents, which would be a drop of 68.8% from a year ago.
According to InvestorPlace’s Eddie Pan, some investors are speculating that Twitter’s board agreed to Musk’s offer on Monday because they knew the company was going to post unsatisfactory results.
Musk is already using the Twitter platform to put pressure on the company ahead of earnings. He sent out a tweet this week that showed that Truth Social, the fledging platform being launched by former President Donald Trump and Trump Media & Technology Group, unexpectedly shot past Twitter to the No. 1 spot on the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store.
Twitter is currently priced just over $48 per share, so there is little room for movement before Musk – should the deal go through – completes his $44 billion deal at $54.20 per share. The deal still needs to be approved by federal regulators and shareholders. If Musk pulls out of the deal, he will have to pay a $1 billion penalty to Twitter.
Once the deal with Musk is approved, Twitter will eventually be removed from the New York Stock Exchange. Either way, this earnings report will be one to remember. But anything that Musk says, either in the media or on his Twitter feed, will likely move TWTR stock more than what is in the earnings report itself.
On the date of publication, Patrick Sanders did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.