Pinterest stock gave investors whiplash on Thursday, but were soaring early Friday after the company’s fourth-quarter results alleviated some fears sparked by a dismal report from Facebook’s parent Meta Platforms .
Pinterest reported non-GAAP net income of $339 million, or 49 cents a share, up from 43 cents during the same quarter in 2020 and above forecasts for 45 cents. Sales jumped 20% year over year to $846.7 million and beat expectations for $827 million.
Pinterest shares were rising 13.3% to $27.78 in premarket trading Friday. They gained as much as much as 29% in after-hours trading Thursday, the same day they closed down 10% after the Facebook parent’s report sent investors fleeing from social media stocks.
“We took important steps in 2021 with the launch of our foundational technology to deliver a video-first publishing platform,” CEO Ben Silbermann said in the earnings release. “And, I’m proud to say that for the first time, we surpassed $2 billion in revenue for the year — growing 52% over the previous year — and reached our first full year of GAAP profitability.”
Global monthly active users declined 6% year over year during the quarter to 431 million, while U.S. monthly active users fell 12% to 86 million. Still the company did a better job monetizing each user, with average revenue per user up 23% globally to $1.93 and 25% to $7.43 in the U.S.
For the first quarter, Pinterest forecasts revenue growth in the high teens percentage range year over year, far better than the 3% to 11% forecast Meta released on Wednesday.
Pinterest stock had fallen 33% this year, far worse than the S&P 500’s 6.1% drop, the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 3.4% decline, and even the Nasdaq Composite’s 11% tumble.
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected] and Ben Levisohn at [email protected]
