*By Chloe Aiello* Shares of embattled social media company Snap soared more than 16 percent in extended trading on Tuesday, after the company beat Wall Street's expectations for its fourth-quarter financial results and reported users stayed relatively stable from a year ago. Wedbush's Dan Ives said the results showed signs of progress. "With a lot of these turnaround stories, it's not just one quarter ー you need a few quarters to really see these turnarounds take place, but no doubt it looks like a step in the right direction," Ives said. Snap ($SNAP), which is best known for its application Snapchat, reported a loss of $0.04 per share on revenue of $390 million, beating Wall Street’s estimates of a $0.07 loss per share on $377.52 million in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters. “We are substantially closer to achieving profitability, as we have maintained a relatively flat cost structure across the past five quarters while growing full-year revenue 43 percent year-over-year,” Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said in a statement. In the ever-important category of daily active users, which measures audience engagement, Snap reported 186 million ー the same number as in the third quarter, and only slightly less than the 187 million it reported this time last year. Average revenue per user came in at $2.09 vs. $1.53 last year. Snap also said 30 percent more users are using its Stories and Shows features daily. Bruised by competition from Facebook’s ($FB) Instagram, and a virtual rotating door of executives, Snap’s stock is down close to 50 percent from last year.
