Start here if you're new
what it is
Pinterest runs a visual discovery app where people collect ideas, and advertisers pay to reach them.
how it gets paid
Last year Pinterest made $4.2B in revenue. Core advertising feed was the main engine at $2.3B, or 55% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 15.8% last year. Revenue rose 177% vs. prior year in the latest quarter.
what just happened
Pinterest reported $2.9B in latest-quarter revenue and $0.20 EPS, which is a very expensive way to sell ideas.
At a glance
B+ balance sheet — decent shape, but not bulletproof
20/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
15.7x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
21.5% return on capital — every dollar works hard here
xvary composite: 46/100 — below average
What they do
Pinterest runs a visual discovery app where people collect ideas, and advertisers pay to reach them.
Pinterest sits between search and social. That matters because 553 million monthly active users are not there to chat. They are there to plan a purchase, a trip, or a project. Leaving is painful because your boards, saves, and recommendations live in one place.
How they make money
$4.2B
annual revenue · their business grew +15.8% last year
Core advertising feed
$2.3B
Shopping ads
$0.8B
Search discovery ads
$0.5B
International ads
$0.4B
Other monetization
$0.2B
The products that matter
sells ads against purchase intent
Advertising
$4.2B revenue · entire business
it's the full $4.2B business. when ad pricing and demand improve, earnings scale fast. when budgets tighten, there is nowhere else to hide.
100% of revenue
Key numbers
$1.95
fy2026 eps est
$7B
fy2028 rev est
15.7x
trailing p/e
n/a
dividend yield
Financial health
B+
strength
- balance sheet grade B+ — solid but not elite
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 15 / 100
- net profit margin 27.7% — keeps 28 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 22% — $0.22 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B+ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in PINS 3 years ago → it's now worth $9,710.
The index would have given you $14,770.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
beat estimates
Pinterest reported $2.9B in latest-quarter revenue and $0.20 EPS, which is a very expensive way to sell ideas.
Revenue rose 177% vs. prior year in the latest quarter, and EPS rose 54%. The business is still living and dying by ad demand.
$2.9B
revenue
$0.20
eps
27.7%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The number that mattered was $2.9B in quarterly revenue. It was big enough to show the ad engine works and weird enough to make the annual numbers look tiny by comparison.
-
shares of pinterest have fallen roughly 20% in price since our previous review.
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the stock plummeted in early november, after the company reported third-quarter results.
-
the photo-sharing platform delivered a solid vs. prior year performance for the september period, but earnings registered lower than expected, and management provided an unfavorable fourth-quarter outlook.
-
although revenue clocked in at $1.05 billion, which reflects a 17% vs. prior year increase, and global monthly active users grew 12%, to 600 million, the bottom line fell short of estimates.the company posted adjusted earnings of $0.38 per share, which was below the consensus estimate of $0.42 per share.
-
management’s view of the december period was also disappointing, indicating that revenue for the final stanza of 2025 will likely be lower than the $1.34 billion expected by wall street.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is advertising demand cracking across a one-stream revenue model.
high
ad budgets hit the whole business at once
Pinterest is an advertising company, full stop. if marketers cut spend, all $4.2B of revenue is exposed.
impact: 100% of revenue is tied to ad demand
med
guidance misses keep the multiple compressed
the september-quarter report showed the issue clearly: $1.05B in revenue and 600M users were not enough because EPS missed consensus and the december outlook trailed the $1.34B expectation.
impact: the stock stays cheap because investors don't trust the next quarter
med
targeting and measurement get harder
changes in privacy rules, ad measurement, or platform competition can make it harder to turn 600M monthly active users into better monetization.
impact: weaker ad pricing and slower revenue conversion from the existing audience
because advertising is the whole model, any slowdown, execution miss, or targeting hit runs straight through Pinterest's $4.2B revenue base.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
the path from $4.2B to $5B
the fy2026 revenue estimate is $5B. if that number starts moving down, the cheap multiple stops looking cheap.
trend
monthly active users after 600M
Pinterest already has scale. what matters next is whether user growth keeps moving and gives monetization more room.
risk
margin durability
a 27.4% net margin is better than the stock's reputation. if that starts slipping, the entire valuation argument weakens.
earnings
next earnings report
expected around may 2026. listen for commentary on advertiser demand, guidance quality, and whether management sounds more confident than last time.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
below average
momentum score 4 — in human-speak, analysts think near-term performance may lag the average stock.
risk profile
average
stability score 3 — not a bunker stock, not a disaster. the business risk looks calmer than the price chart.
chart momentum
below average
technical score 4 — the tape still says investors want more proof before they pay up.
earnings predictability
20 / 100
earnings are harder to model here than the headline margin suggests. expect swings around reports.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net buying for 3 consecutive quarters — 450 buyers vs. 370 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.6B shares. net buying for 3 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$19
$57
$26
current price
$38
target midpoint · +47% from current · 3-5yr high: $65 (+150% · 26% ann'l return)
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