What It Means for Investors
Pinterest Inc.'s projection for the July-through-September period disappointed investors who worried the company might be losing steam, even though its latest results showed robust gains in both users and revenue.
The muted forecast followed an otherwise strong spring for the visual discovery platform.
Pinterest has made being a break from typical social feeds central to its advertising pitch, and its newer AI features are meant to make planning and shopping easier. That focus has helped it keep growing users at a double-digit pace.
In the latest quarter, adjusted EBITDA came in at $311 million and free cash flow reached $270 million. Pinterest has avoided the enormous data-center investments that some larger tech rivals have made, instead putting its dollars toward AI recommendations and shopping features.
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The company, which is based in San Francisco, had closed the regular session at $25.58 in New York. The shares are down 1% in 2026.
The Headline Numbers Were Fine. The Forecast Was Not.
Pinterest brought in $1.18 billion in revenue for the quarter, beating the average analyst projection of $1.15 billion. That is an 18% increase from the same period last year. Monthly active users grew 11% from a year earlier to 640 million, setting a new record and marking the 11th consecutive quarter with double-digit user growth.
Pinterest also exceeded expectations on an adjusted profit basis. Adjusted EBITDA (a profitability metric that strips out interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) came in at $311 million, up from $261 million a year earlier. Free cash flow also moved higher, reaching $270 million.
Management projected current-quarter revenue of up to $1.21 billion, just above the $1.2 billion consensus. Investors saw the forecast as too tepid, sending the stock lower after hours.
A Different Kind of Social Media Company
Pinterest has sought to distinguish itself from conventional social platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, positioning the app as a destination for inspiration and offline pursuits. CEO Bill Ready said on a prior earnings call that Pinterest offers a "positive, private space" for younger users. More than half the platform's audience consists of Gen Z users, a group broadly defined as the generation born from the late 1990s to about 2012.
Unlike some larger tech rivals, Pinterest has not invested heavily in developing cutting-edge AI models or enormous AI data centers. Instead, the company has folded AI more deeply into its recommendation systems and shopping experience. It has drawn on outside and open-source AI systems to build features such as Ask Pinterest, a chatbot. Late last year, it introduced an AI-powered shopping assistant as part of a broader push to make the service more personalized.
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