Social media staple Twitter (TWTR – Analyst Report) beat Q2 earnings and revenues after the bell Tuesday, and its share price spiked immediately in after-hours trading. The company posted a loss (accounting for stock-based compensation and other before non-recurring items [BNRI]) of 19 cents per share on quarterly revenues of $502 million; the Zacks consensus estimates were for -24 cents per share and $480 million in revenues. This sent TWTR shares up 11 percent in late trading.

But then …

A closer look at monthly active users (MAU) in the quarter showed quarter-over-quarter gains of 2 million, whereas the initial reported number looked to gain nearly 10 percent in the quarter to 316 million total. Behind this is the apples-to-apples comparison giving way to the inclusion of Twitter users via SMS — the Q1 report of 302 million was core Twitter users only, and the Q2 core number was 304 million.

Also, Q3 revenue guidance is for sales of $545-560 million, which is actually below the Zacks consensus estimate of $561 million. Add to this the fact that since former CEO Dick Costolo stepped down more than 6 weeks ago Chairman Jack Dorsey has been doing double-duty, perhaps putting into question how to firm up growth numbers for Twitter.

… And this sent Twitter shares dipping into negative territory temporarily, from gains of over 5 percent in regular-day Tuesday trading. Yet the news was far from all bad for Twitter in the quarter: ad engagement was up 53 percent in Q2, and cost per ad engagement rose 6 percent — both positive numbers for Twitter's growth. There is also the highly-anticipated Periscope project, deemed by many to have excellent potential, and which will likely be discussed in more depth on the conference call.

Twitter shares are currently up around 6 percent in the after-market, pushing the stock into positive territory from a year ago. Prior to the earnings report, Twitter carried a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Big biopharma company Gilead (GILD – Analyst Report) also reported beats on the top and bottom lines after the bell Tuesday. The company posted earnings of $3.10 per share (accounting for stock-based compensation and other BNRI) on revenues of $8.2 billion — easily topping Zacks consensus estimates of $2.83 and $7.5 billion, respectively. Gilead's worldwide hepatitis-C business reached $4.9 billion in the quarter, far outpacing the $4.3 billion expected.