New York, May 19, 2026, 15:06 EDT
Pinterest is down about 6% in late trading Tuesday, slipping below levels seen after its earnings rally earlier this month. The stock traded at $18.74 at 3:05 p.m. EDT, still during open hours, after hitting $18.46 at its intraday low.
Pinterest’s first-quarter numbers gave management a bit of breathing space, but the clock is ticking. Shares ended at $22.28 on May 5, the first regular session post-earnings, and after Tuesday’s slide they’re about 16% lower than that, using historical prices.
Pinterest shares lagged the big tech indexes, falling more than Meta, Snap, and Reddit as the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.52% and the S&P 500 slipped 0.39%, according to Reuters data. Meta, Snap and Reddit also traded down in the afternoon.
Pinterest said its first-quarter revenue was $1.008 billion, up 18% from a year ago, with global monthly active users increasing 11% to 631 million. The company recorded a GAAP net loss of $74 million, and adjusted EBITDA came in at $207 million. Adjusted EBITDA removes interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and some other items.
Pinterest CEO Bill Ready said in the release the company saw “a strong start to 2026,” citing gains from its visual search products. Ready said Pinterest is still working on an AI-powered ads platform. The software uses artificial intelligence to automate pieces of ad work like creation, targeting, and delivery. Business Wire
Pinterest is guiding for second-quarter revenue between $1.133 billion and $1.153 billion, up 14% to 16% over last year. Adjusted EBITDA is seen in a range of $256 million to $276 million.
Pinterest’s forecast came in above what analysts guessed, pushing the stock up after the bell on May 4, Reuters said. Management is betting that more automation in its ad products and a wider pool of advertisers, picking up small and mid-sized businesses, can offset weaker spending from major retail brands dealing with tariffs and higher costs.
“Large advertisers remain important for stability but are not the primary growth driver,” Lenny Zéphirin, principal and analyst at The Zéphirin Group, told Reuters. Smaller business demand is picking up, he said, though it is still tied to tariffs and big economic shifts. Reuters
Competition in the ad market is still close. Meta’s scale keeps drawing ad dollars, even when markets are rough. Reddit is betting on AI-powered ad tech. Snap has signaled it faces slower growth in North America and headwinds from geopolitics. Snap’s last results didn’t match the first-quarter revenue gains seen at Meta, Pinterest and Reddit, Reuters reported.
Pinterest has a buyback buffer on the books. The company finished about $2 billion of share repurchases in the near term. Reuters earlier said Elliott Investment Management backed Pinterest’s plan, putting in a new $1 billion position linked to the broader $3.5 billion buyback program. Business Wire
But the downside hasn’t vanished. If brands or retailers cut spending again, whether from tariffs or soft demand hitting margins, Pinterest might have trouble turning more users into bigger ad sales. Larger platforms may keep grabbing ad budgets if advertisers pull back. Pinterest names tariffs, weak global demand, advertiser churn, AI execution and competition as potential risks in its filings.
Pinterest stock dropped Tuesday, cooling off despite stronger user numbers, a higher near-term revenue forecast and buybacks pushed by activists. The company’s earnings report showed more users and a better outlook, but investors are staying cautious, waiting to see if ad growth sticks for more than one quarter.
