Rumors have surfaced that Twitter may make its S-1 filing public as early as this week. The company tweeted earlier this month that it had filed the document with the SEC but kept it confidential. Investors will be anxious to get a look at Twitter's financial data for the first time, including important metrics regarding its monthly active user, or MAU, base. Earlier this year, Twitter said it had over 200 million MAUs, but has not provided a more recent figure.
Investors should also look at the geographic breakdown of the user base. Rival Facebook's (META -0.52%) figures show dramatic differences in user monetization by geography -- in some cases a difference of six times. Those same dynamics that affect Facebook will likely play out for Twitter, since both companies use a similar ad model. Twitter also generates revenue by licensing access to its full feed of public tweets, which it calls its "firehose."
Facebook and LinkedIn have reignited investor confidence in social media companies this year, as both continue to execute quite well. Facebook went public at a valuation over $100 billion, yet Twitter's most recent data pegs its value at just $15 billion to $16 billion. Twitter is much younger, which could potentially represent more opportunity for investors.
In today's episode of Tech Teardown, Erin Kennedy discusses Twitter's possibly forthcoming S-1 with Evan Niu, CFA.
