Leaks regarding social network site Twitter's earnings sent its stock spiraling downward late Tuesday afternoon.
Some reports state that CEO Dick Costolo's future may be shaky and that Twitter's once very patient shareholders are done waiting for the company to figure out how to make money.
Reports say the earnings leak came from financial data vendor Selerity.
Twitter had a rough quarter ended March 31, with a big drop in advertising engagement. Revenue of $436 million did not come close to what analysts were hoping for, which was about $458 million. The company's net loss grew to $162.4 million. The previous quarter loss was $132.4 million.
The stock dropped over 15 percent, hitting $43.16 as of Monday evening. Not only did the leak ignite a stock dip—it's also prompting financial analysts to question Twitter's management as a company.
"The fact that the results were leaked isn't good, because it raises a lot of security and privacy questions. If it can't keep its results safe, can it protect its users? This just shows that the company is poorly managed," stated Todd Schoenberger, managing partner of Landcolt Capital.
More industry watchers are concerned that Twitter either has given up on a monetization strategy or just will never be able to make money.
"Twitter is still growing, but if Twitter isn't optimistic about its results, why would investors be optimistic? I've owned the stock in the past but actually sold it earlier today. I was expecting the stock to beat and to rise after that, but once I saw the erratic action I sold ahead of the halt. I got lucky that I missed this huge gap down," stated Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan Capital.
As one report noted, Twitter is not only failing to make money or keep investors happy, but it's also not attracting more users or advertisers. Things also don't look rosy in the days ahead as the micro-blogging site expects sales to be about $470 million to $485 million next quarter, which is far below the $538 million that analysts are hoping for.
"When you're communicating with investors, there's some expectation that you'll actually deliver," said Brian Wieser, analyst at Pivotal Research Group, who has a hold rating on Twitter's stock. "The message needs to be matched by numbers, or Twitter's credibility starts to become an issue."
