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Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest. Photo by Bloomberg

Pinterest Stock Prospects Hinge on ex-Googler’s Shopping Plans

By  |  Dec. 16, 2022 6:00 AM PST
Photo: Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest. Photo by Bloomberg

What a difference a year makes. At the start of 2022, Pinterest was on the outs with investors. Plagued by reports that executives were fleeing, along with falling user numbers, its stock was trading at a deep discount to that of Snap, a similar-size social media app that for the past few years had shown faster revenue growth. Today, the tables have turned.

Snap’s stock is now trading well below Pinterest’s on a multiple of expected next year’s revenue, the first time that’s been true since 2019, when Pinterest went public, according to Koyfin data. While investors have lost faith in Snap thanks to its weakening revenue growth, Pinterest has stopped a yearlong slide in user growth and shaken up its top management with the appointment of a former Googler, Bill Ready, as CEO. The appearance of Elliott Management as a shareholder—with a board seat—has reinforced investor optimism.

Don’t be fooled, however. This situation is as much about Snap’s fall from grace than it is about any turnaround at Pinterest. Whether Ready and Elliott can draw more advertisers to Pinterest and jump-start its growth is far from certain. And while Pinterest stock has recently traded as high as $26, making it one of the better-performing tech stocks this year, it could fall to around $16 if Ready fails, assuming it traded in line with where Snap and Meta Platforms are now trading, The Information calculates.

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