SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2026, 09:03 (PDT)
- Twilio bumped up its 2026 revenue-growth outlook, following first-quarter results that topped Wall Street’s expectations for both revenue and adjusted earnings.
- Shares climbed roughly 20% Friday morning, trading just below $178.39 after hitting an intraday high of $184.08.
- Investors are now weighing if AI ends up hurting software companies or instead offers certain players fresh opportunities to push infrastructure products.
Twilio Inc. shares surged nearly 20% Friday, after the cloud communications firm raised its full-year outlook and delivered an earnings beat that resonated with investors, highlighting stronger demand for its AI-powered voice offerings.
Timing is a factor here. Software shares have taken a hit lately, with investors worried AI might eat into demand for some of their products. But Twilio’s results offered a different read for the moment: companies are putting more money into the communication platforms—the software and channels for messaging, calls, and customer verification—that Twilio provides.
Twilio lifted its 2026 revenue growth forecast to 14%–15%, above the previous 11.5%–12.5% range. Non-GAAP operating income and free cash flow guidance also moved higher, now at $1.08 billion to $1.10 billion, compared with $1.04 billion to $1.06 billion before.
Twilio Inc. reported a 20% jump in first-quarter revenue, reaching $1.407 billion. Organic revenue, which leaves out acquisitions, divestitures, and certain application-to-person carrier fees—those being the charges U.S. mobile carriers apply to business messages sent to consumers—climbed 16%.
Adjusted earnings landed at $1.50 per share, topping the $1.27 analysts were looking for. GAAP net income climbed sharply, reaching $90 million, or 57 cents a share, compared with $20 million, or 12 cents, in the same period last year. GAAP is shorthand for U.S. accounting standards; non-GAAP numbers—like these adjusted results—strip out items like stock-based pay and certain charges.
Calling it “a milestone quarter,” Chief Executive Khozema Shipchandler pointed to Twilio’s best revenue and gross-profit growth in over three years. He credited the improvement to quicker product development, sharper sales efforts, and stricter cost controls. Twilio Inc.
On the earnings call, Shipchandler pointed to “unprecedented demand for voice reimagined through the lens of AI.” Voice revenue climbed 20% year-over-year, marking a sixth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth. Branded calling and conversational intelligence? Both topped 100% growth. Branded calling allows businesses to display their name or even a call reason; conversational intelligence analyzes what happens in customer calls. The Motley Fool
Management highlighted concrete customer wins to back up the demand story. Shipchandler cited Scorpion—a marketing and tech company focused on small businesses—which used Twilio’s AI to create an agent that bumped up booking rates by 39%, snagged 6,500 appointments, and drove $8.4 million in revenue in just three months.
Chief Financial Officer Aidan Viggiano pointed to growth of over 25% in both self-serve and independent software-vendor channels for the quarter. Messaging revenue jumped 25% as well, boosted by SMS, WhatsApp, and RCS—a more advanced messaging protocol. Roughly seven percentage points of that messaging growth came from higher carrier fees.
The sector’s mood offered a lift. Shares of Atlassian, Twilio, and contact-center software firm Five9 each jumped post-earnings, testing the “SaaSpocalypse” thesis—market shorthand for worries that AI might wipe out software demand. Kate Leaman, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, told Business Insider the latest results “put a significant dent” in that view, but she also pointed out there are still laggards. Business Insider
Analysts wasted no time reacting to the report. Needham & Company bumped its Twilio price target up to $200 from $145, sticking with a buy call, Benzinga reported via MarketBeat. That new target points to roughly 35% potential upside from Twilio’s previous close.
The surge comes with tighter margins for error. Twilio flagged risks tied to customer usage, competition, cybersecurity, execution on products and shifts in network-service provider fees. Carrier costs remain a headache for messaging, and if AI-driven usage slows, defending those fresh growth targets could get tricky.
Twilio projects second-quarter revenue between $1.420 billion and $1.430 billion, which would put reported growth in the 15.5% to 16.5% range. Now, the focus shifts to whether customers push past simple messaging, embracing voice AI, verification tools, and those pricier software extras.
