Twitter shares sank Thursday after the social media company reported quarterly revenue that missed Wall Street's expectations and issued guidance that fell far short of estimates.

Twitter posted fourth-quarter earnings of 16 cents per share on revenue of $717 million.

Analysts expected earnings of 12 cents per share on much higher revenue of $740.1 million, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters. In the previous year, the company posted 12 cents on revenue of $479 million.

The company adjusted its EBITDA guidance for the first quarter in the range of $75 million to $95 million. Wall Street expected an estimate of $191.3 million.

The stock tanked 10 percent immediately after the news.

Twitter also said it had 319 million monthly active users, up 4 percent from a year earlier.

Late last year, the company reported that its average monthly active users for a three-month period increased to 317 million. It also saw a 7 percent increase in its daily active users, thanks in part to the three presidential debates.

Twitter said total advertising revenue was $638 million, down slightly from a year earlier. U.S. revenue totaled $440 million, a year-over-year decrease of 5 percent. International revenue totaled $277 million, an increase of 12 percent from the previous year.

"While revenue growth continues to lag audience growth, we are applying the same focused approach that drove audience growth to our revenue product portfolio, focusing on our strengths and the real-time nature of our service. This will take time, but we're moving fast to show results," CEO Jack Dorsey said in a statement.

