Twilio's stock is soaring. The software group says its AI-voice tool is seeing 'unprecedented demand.'

By Nora Redmond

Twilio lifted revenue and operating-income guidance

Twilio's revenue climbed 20% year-over-year in the first quarter.

Twilio shares were surging on Friday, following the software group's upbeat results and higher guidance, and as it flagged big demand for an AI-voice tool.

Shares of the 18-year-old company (TWLO), which provides a platform for businesses to communicate with customers through messaging, climbed 17% as Friday trading kicked off. The stock is up more than 22% since the start of the year.

After Thursday's close, Twilio reported earnings per share for the three months ending March 31 of $1.50, almost 20% higher than analysts' estimates of $1.27. That marks its fifth earnings beat in a row, according to data provided by FactSet.

The San Francisco-based company posted revenue of $1.4 billion, up 20% year-over-year and higher than the Wall Street consensus of $1.34 billion. Twilio raised 2026 revenue guidance to growth of 14% and 15%, up 11.5% to 12.5% previously. It also lifted its outlook for operating income to between $1.08 billion and $1.1 billion after that metric soared 31% in a year.

Twilio CEO Khozema Shipchandler said the "terrific" results were a multiyear effort by the group to transform how it performs financially, after a post-pandemic struggle to remain relevant as in-person communication resumed. Sales have now shot up 71% since the same quarter four years ago.

Shipchandler also flagged that companies are adopting more AI tools to complete tasks, citing one benefit in particular.

"We continued to see unprecedented demand for 'Voice,' reimagined through the lens of AI, which is increasingly an entry point to the Twilio platform for AI natives and enterprises alike," the former chief financial officer at General Electric - before it was separated into three companies - told analysts in a call on Friday.

The software sector has been rattled this year by concerns of permanent AI disruption, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector exchange-traded fund IGM down fallen 15% since November, when fears first started to weigh on traders. That ETF gained about 8% for April, the best month for the Nasdaq Composite COMP and the S&P 500 SPX since 2020.

Shipchandler said sales for 'Voice,' its phone call offering, grew 20% since the first quarter of 2025. Revenue for its branded calling feature - which allows companies to add details like logo name and call reason for outbound calls - and its call transcription service increased 100% year-on-year.

"Playing the infrastructure angle on AI has been great, but it's pretty nice to see some mentions of AI driving earnings beats outside of the semis complex," Citrini Research wrote of Twilio's results in a post on X on Thursday.

The firm, founded by James van Geelen, went viral in February with a report that suggested AI might lead to dramatic productivity boosts and mass underemployment. The report sparked significant declines for software stocks.

-Nora Redmond

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05-01-26 0941ET