TWLO

What is Twilio and what does it do?

These days we expect to interact with businesses at all the right moments, through all the right channels. Twilio helps companies meet and exceed those expectations.

Based in San Francisco, California, Twilio is a customer engagement platform and leader in the CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) market. 

The company aims to make it “easy for every organisation to build meaningful interactions with customers on the channels they prefer.”

The Twilio platform lets developers build, scale and operate real-time customer engagement within software applications on the cloud. As the platform’s APIs allow for voice, message, video and email interactions, businesses can create personalised experiences for their customers. 

Behind the scenes, Twilio also bridges its software with traditional telephony networks. 

Twilio is currently used by hundreds of thousands of businesses across the financial services, retail, hospitality, healthcare and real estate industries. Some of these businesses include ING, TransferWise, Mercado Libre, eBay, Airbnb, Deliveroo, Philips, Rently and HomeFinder. 

Over ten million developers work with Twilio’s APIs around the world.

How does Twilio earn revenue?

Twilio does not earn revenue through subscription fees, plans or contracts as it runs on a usage-based revenue model.

Developers begin building programs with full access to Twilio’s APIs for free. If a business and its developers decide they want to move forward with Twilio, they pay Twilio based solely on usage.

Twilio’s revenue grows even more as developers increase and extend the usage of Twilio products and/or adopt more products.

When was Twilio's IPO?

Twilio went public on the New York Stock Exchange on 23 June, 2016.

Is Twilio profitable?

No, Twilio is not profitable. By their own admission, Twilio has “a history of losses and may not achieve or sustain profitability in the future.”

The company’s net income sank deeper into the red with negative US$307m, US$491m and US$1b for FY2019, FY2020 and FY2021 respectively.

As of 31 December 31st 2021, Twilio has accumulated a deficit of $2.1 billion.

When does Twilio report earnings?

Twilio usually reports on a quarterly basis in May for Q1, July or August for Q2, October for Q3 and February the following year for Q4. 

Q4 is also when they release their annual reports.

Is TWLO stock a buy?

Investor sentiment has largely been negative for the past year. Since the TWLO stock price high of over US$430 in February 2021, the stock has dropped more than 60% to a 52-week low of US$123.05 in March 2022.

Some investors blame an inflationary economic environment and geopolitical tensions but the company has never been profitable. It may even continue to lose money for the foreseeable future.

For other investors, the drop in valuation is an opportunity. These investors have their eyes on the company’s rising revenue due to the company’s recent acquisition of SendGrid, Zipwhip and Segment.