Shares in Snap Inc. surged 20% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company beat analyst forecasts with strong revenue and user growth.

For the quarter ending March 31, Snap reported revenue rose 44% from a year ago, to $462 million. That easily topped analysts’ predictions of $431 million.

The revenue jump was reflected in an increase in usage, with daily active users coming in at 229 million, up 39 million from the same time last year. Snap had 218 million users in the fourth quarter.

Average revenue per user rose 20%, to $2.02. With more users came more usage. The number of Snaps sent by users reached an all-time high of more than 4 billion daily and total time using various Snap services such as Discover and Shows surged as well.

The only figure that didn’t beat expectations was adjusted loss per share, which came in at 8 cents versus a predicted 7 cents, or a total $306 million loss. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization was $42 million compared with an $81 million loss in first quarter of 2019.

The stellar results were driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic as Snap reported use up by more than 30% in the last week of March from the last week in January. While providing increased users, Snap did note that becaue of pandemic uncertainties, including rapidly shifting macroeconomic conditions, it’s not providing guidance for the second quarter.

“Snapchat is helping people stay close to their friends and family while they are separated physically and I am proud of our team for overcoming the many challenges of working from home during this time while we continue to grow our business and support those who are impacted by COVID-19,” Snap Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel said in a statement.

Discussing the news, Socialbakers CEO Yuval Ben-Itzhak told SiliconANGLE that the real impact of the pandemic will be more apparent in the second quarter.

“Snap isn’t usually seen as the first option for brands to spend their big ad budgets, as it’s perceived as more of an experimental platform,” Ben-Itzhak said. “As a result, the platform is more vulnerable to budget cuts than other social media platforms. Given the decline in ad spend we are seeing across social media platforms in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, Snap needs to continue to focus on maintaining its user base while attracting ad spend in what’s proving to be a difficult economy.”

EMarketer Principal Analyst Debra Aho Williamson noted that “if advertisers did cut budgets for Snapchat advertising, they may not have done so in large numbers before the end of the quarter.”

In after-hours trading, Snap shares rose 20.5%, to $14.99, as of 8 p.m. EDT.

Photo: Pixabay