Investors pummeled Pinterest stock in premarket trading, sending shares down more than 18% after the company reported its monthly active user (MAU) count declined in the second quarter, as pandemic restrictions began to lift around the world.
Pinterest said late Thursday that its MAU count fell by 5%, or roughly 20 million users, to 454 million compared with the first quarter. The image-sharing platform said its “engagement headwinds” have continued in July, and that as of Tuesday, its U.S. MAUs fell 7% compared with a year ago. Its global user count grew 5% in July compared with the year-ago period.
Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann said stay-at-home orders in the past year helped drive engagement and usage of its platform. But now that economies around the world have begun to reopen, some of the behavior common a year ago during the height of the pandemic have changed—redecorating, home education, and cooking at home, for example—and aren’t as common, he said.
“For the past year, we’ve highlighted how people came to Pinterest for inspiration to reinvent their lives during such a difficult time,” he said. “Now, as the world opens up, we’re seeing the similar effect in the opposite direction.”
Pinterest said it would not issue third-quarter MAU growth guidance because restrictions due to the spread of Covid-19 continue to fluctuate.
Despite its sequentially declining user count, Pinterest topped analyst expectations for adjusted per-share profit and revenue.
The social media platform reported second-quarter net income of $69.4 million, which amounts to 10 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $100.8 million, or a loss of17 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for stock-based compensation, among other things, earnings were 25 cents a share. Revenue more than doubled to $613.2 million.
Analysts had expected adjusted second-quarter earnings of 13 cents a share on revenue of $562.2 million.
Pinterest said that it expects third-quarter revenue to grow in the 40% range compared with a year ago, which is roughly in line with analyst estimates. For the third quarter, Wall Street expects non-GAAP earnings of 19 cents a share on revenue of $635.4 million.
Digital advertising companies have reported mixed results for the June quarter earnings season.Alphabet,Snap, and Twitter, handily beat expectations,sending shares flying.Facebook didn’t please investors when it reported earnings late Wednesday.
Pinterest stock had retreated 6% in the regular session Thursday to close at $72.04.