It could be Twitter's most important post. The social media firm is due to release fourth quarter earnings on Thursday and investors are hoping the company will finally break into solid profits. News of higher revenues and new products are bound to  be overshadowed by those all-important user figures. Saxo Bank’s Head of Equity Peter Garnry previews Twitter's results and highlights what to look out for.

Peter says that disappointing user growth may hurt Twitter stock, which in his view remains over-valued. Just days before the results, Twitter announced that it was expanding its advertising base by displaying tweet-based ads, so-called Promoted Tweets, outside its main website. The announcement sent the company stock up more than 6%.

Twitter had 284 million users in the third quarter – about a fifth of Facebook’s – and is seeking to counter investor concerns about slow user growth by saying the number of active users does not fully represent the scope of Twitter’s reach .