Twilio (TWLO -0.55%) is on the comeback trail, bouncing back after a brutal May. Shares of Twilio moved higher in each of last week's five trading days, climbing 9.1% in the process.
There was no company-specific news triggering the steady upticks, though Twilio was active in getting its story told. Twilio execs presented during William Blair's 37th Annual Growth Stock Conference on Wednesday morning, following that up on Thursday with a management meeting hosted by Oppenheimer.
There were no newsworthy nuggets out of the William Blair fireside chat, but Twilio was able to once again explain how it was founded in pursuit of improving in-app communications, providing examples of how it's making its clients more efficient. There was no webcast or transcript out of its Oppenheimer meeting, but analyst Ittai Kidron has been one of Twilio's biggest bulls since shortly after going public at $15 last summer. He tapped the dot-com speedster as one of his favorite stocks for 2017, and last month reiterated his bullish rating by calling May's sell-off a buying opportunity. He may be on to something on that front: Twilio stock is up 11% so far in June. The shares tumbled 26% last month.
Image source: Twilio.
App all night
May was rough, but the wounds have been mostly self-inflicted. The biggest hit came after Twilio posted disappointing financial results. Revenue climbed a hearty 47%, but Twilio lowered its top-line forecast for all of 2017. You don't hose down your guidance and get away with it, especially when you're a market darling commanding rich market multiples.
Twilio warned that Uber -- one of its largest and most prolific clients -- was using rival solutions in different operating territories. Later in the month, the concern was that Airbnb was turning to a couple of providers for its push notifications and text messaging needs. Twilio has 40,696 active customer accounts on its widening Rolodex, 42% thicker than it was a year earlier. However, Uber still represents 12% of Twilio's business and Airbnb is no slouch.
Twilio stock has been volatile in its rookie year. There's some comfort in knowing that Uber and Airbnb continue to rely on Twilio for their communications needs. There's also some upside still left despite the recovery through the first half of June, as Kidrom's price target of $38 implies 41% of upside from here. The big test will come in August when Twilio can't afford to lower its guidance again. Twilio remains one of last year's most successful IPOs, but it still will have a lot to prove this summer as it tries to avoid a sophomore slump.
