Pinterest's stock surges 16% on jump in revenue, earnings

By Jon Swartz

Pinterest Inc.'s stock popped nearly 16% in extended trading Monday after it reported quarterly results that topped analysts' revenue and earnings estimates.

Pinterest (PINS) reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $6.73 million, or a penny a share, compared with a loss of $65.2 million, or 10 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings were 28 cents a share.

Revenue was $763.2 million, up 11% from $684.6 million a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected, on average, net earnings of 21 cents a share on revenue of $744 million.

"We continued to accelerate the business in Q3 and are driving strong revenue performance, robust global MAU growth and substantial margin expansion," Pinterest Chief Executive Bill Ready said in a statement announcing the numbers. Global monthly active users improved 8% to an all-time-high 482 million year over year.

In his statement, Ready did not comment on ad spending, which played a big role in the recent earnings results of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. (META), Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL) (GOOG) Google and Snap Inc. (SNAP).

During a conference call with analysts, Pinterest Chief Financial Officer Julia Brau Donnelly noted strong advertising in consumer packaged goods, financial services, restaurants, travel, technology and auto.

In the same call, Ready said Pinterest continued to show "resilience" to economic headwinds caused by the conflict in the Middle East. Last week, shares of Alphabet were punished after executives at the search-engine giant acknowledged a negative impact from the war on near-term advertising sales.

Pinterest executives expect fourth-quarter revenue to grow between 11% and 13%. FactSet analysts expect $978 million in fourth-quarter revenue, or about 11%.

Shares of Pinterest have inched up 3% this year, while the broader S&P 500 index SPX has increased 8.5%.

-Jon Swartz

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10-30-23 2020ET

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