AI is expected to ignite the advertising business engine Pinterest (PINS.US) Q2 guidelines exceed expectations and explode stock prices

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Pinterest (PINS.US) announced financial results for the first quarter after the market on May 8, EST. Because its median revenue forecast for the second quarter was higher than market expectations, the stock rose sharply in after-market trading. At one point, its stock price soared 17%. As of press release, the stock had risen 15.47% after the market. There are signs that the company's efforts to use artificial intelligence to drive growth are beginning to bear fruit, further easing market concerns about the slowing growth of the advertising business.

According to the data, the company's Q1 revenue increased 16% year over year to US$855 million, exceeding market expectations of US$847 million; adjusted earnings per share were $0.23, falling short of market expectations of $0.26.

Pinterest said in a statement that second-quarter revenue is expected to reach 960 million to 980 million US dollars, higher than analysts' expectations of 963.7 million US dollars.

CEO Bill Reddy stated in a conference call with analysts: “Our ability to use artificial intelligence to personalize the user experience is our core competitive advantage.” He also added, “It also makes us a very valuable partner for advertisers.”

This online search and discovery platform believes that at a time when consumer spending intentions are sluggish, there are still opportunities for development. Pinterest points out that it can provide advertisers with early trend signals when consumer trends are not yet reflected in procurement data. Reddy also mentioned during the conference call that the company's largest customer base “is increasing advertising investment on our platform.”

Furthermore, the number of monthly active users and profit indicators of Pinterest in the first quarter also exceeded expectations.

However, analysts pointed out that rising tariffs pose a risk to the company's prospects. Commenting on earnings reports, Bloomberg industry research analyst Mandeep Singh wrote, “As large Asian advertisers cut spending, Pinterest's ad sales growth in the US may face resistance, and this impact may be more significant than for larger peers.”

Despite this, Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein pointed out in a quarterly outlook report that the performance of companies such as Amazon (AMZN.US), Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL.US), Meta Platform (META.US), and Reddit (RDDT.US) shows that the digital advertising market is still developing healthily. He wrote, “As a result, we are delaying expectations for the impact of tariffs on Pinterest from the second quarter to the third quarter.”

By Thursday's close, Pinterest's stock price had fallen 3.9% cumulatively this year.