TWLO Q3 2021 Earnings

Call Details

• Call Title: Twilio Inc. Q3 2021 Earnings Call
• Date: October 27, 2021 at 9:00 PM UTC
• Management Team:
  • Andrew Zilli (Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury)
  • Jeff Lawson (Co-founder and CEO)
  • George Hu (Outgoing COO)
  • Mark Boroditsky (Chief Revenue Officer)
  • Josema Chipchandler (COO)

Call Summary

Financial Performance

• Twilio reported 38% organic revenue growth in Q3 2021 as stated on the call.
• The company reported about 65% growth on an inorganic basis for Q3 2021 as discussed on the call.
• Net expansion rate for the quarter was reported as 131% during the discussion of retention metrics.
• Executives attributed part of the sequential deceleration to political traffic, which they quantified as a couple hundred basis point headwind to organic growth.
• Segment was called out as having a strong sequential quarter and as a contributor to application services growth.
• Executives described the quarter as broad-based strength across industries, use cases, geographies, and customers.

Guidance

• Twilio reiterated the objective of delivering 30% plus organic growth over the next three years as a multi-year target.
• Executives stated they provided guidance for Q4 but did not disclose specific Q4 revenue or EPS figures on the call.
• Company representatives agreed that analyst adjustments for political revenue imply low-40s organic growth in Q3 and that Q4 guidance implies low-30s organic growth excluding political revenue, based on the call discussion.
• Segment will be included in public disclosures beginning in Q1 as the first full quarter post-anniversary of the acquisition.
• Twilio explicitly stated that they do not provide explicit forward guidance on net expansion rate.
• Executives referenced a long-term gross margin objective using both '60% plus' phrasing and '50% plus' phrasing in different answers, creating an inconsistency in target language on the call.