What happened Chinese microblogging service Weibo (NASDAQ: WB) reported strong fourth-quarter results early Thursday morning, driving the stock as much as 10% higher. Weibo's shares had retreated to a 7.7% gain by 2 p.m. EDT. So what Weibo's fourth-quarter sales rose 9.7% year over year, landing at $513 million. Adjusted earnings increased by 20% to $0.92 per diluted share. Your average analyst would have settled for earnings of roughly $0.74 per share on revenue near $499 million. Looking ahead, Weibo's management expects first-quarter sales to grow approximately 28%, which works out to $412 million. Here, the analyst consensus stopped at $399 million. Image source: Getty Images. Now what The company posted modest year-over-year user growth and wider profit margins. Management would have preferred the opposite situation, as Weibo's business model is tuned to maximize top-line growth and user additions at the expense of limited bottom-line profits, but exorbitant profits is one of the nicer problems a business can have. Weibo took this opportunity to promote finance VP Fei Cao to CFO. Furthermore, Wei Wang was installed as chief operating officer, a newly created position in Weibo's management structure. Both Cao and Wang originally joined Weibo from senior leadership positions in parent company SINA. The market calmly accepted these corner-office appointments. It's no surprise to see investors embracing Weibo's earnings beat and bullish guidance. The stock has now gained 48% in 52 weeks. 10 stocks we like better than WeiboWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Weibo wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of February 24, 2021 Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source