Pinterest Surges on Revenue Beat as Social Peers Struggle

Alex Barinka, Bloomberg News

The Pinterest Inc. application is displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone in this arranged photograph taken in Little Falls, New Jersey, U.S., on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. Pinterest has filed paperwork with the SEC for an initial public offering (IPO), the Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Pinterest Inc. surged after reporting third-quarter revenue that beat analysts’ estimates, standing out from its social media peers in a difficult market.

Third-quarter sales grew 8% to $684.55 million, the company said, topping the average analyst estimate for $666.85 million. Monthly active users also grew slightly to 445 million, from 444 million in the year-ago period, after three straight quarters of declines.

The stock gained about 8% in premarket trading on Friday before exchanges opened in New York. Pinterest’s shares had fallen 40% this year through Thursday’s close.

Pinterest stands out “amidst the wreckage that has become the digital advertising sector” this week, Barclays Plc analyst Ross Sandler said in a note following the results.

Read More: Pinterest Surges on ‘Inspiring’ Results Amid Gloom: Street Wrap

Pinterest, which helps users find and share image-based lifestyle ideas, is operating under its new chief executive officer, Bill Ready. Ready, a former executive at at Alphabet Inc.’s Google and PayPal Inc, replaced co-founder Ben Silbermann earlier this year. Ready has focused on growing users and improving opportunities and tools for ads on the platform, he said in an interview.

Pinterest’s revenue beat follows a miss by larger peers Snap Inc. and Alphabet, while Meta Platforms Inc. was in line with expectations. For the three months ending in December, Pinterest expects revenue growth to continue in the mid-single digit range.

The social media industry has been grappling with a decrease in spending on digital ads as marketers worry about economic uncertainty and cope with a change in Apple Inc. privacy policy that made some platforms’ advertisements less effective.

Advertisers are under pressure to deliver reReady said. Pinterest’s revenue growth “in an ad market that has been decelerating pretty rapidly, I think that demonstrates we’re showing up with good value for advertisers.”

--With assistance from Kit Rees.

(Updates with premarket trading in third paragraph, analyst’s comment in fourth paragraph)