Pinterest saw its shares fall as much as 19% on Tuesday after the company reported disappointing user growth its first quarter results.
Pinterest’s user base grew to 367 million monthly active users, up 26% from last year, exactly the same annualized growth rate the company saw in the fourth quarter of 2019.
User growth in the US.was up 6% compared to a year prior, slower than the 8% annualized growth the company saw in the U.S. during the fourth quarter.
By comparison, digital marketing rivals Facebook, Google and Snap reported upticks in user growth as people remain sheltered-in-place and are going online to connect with friends as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company’s revenue came in at $272 million, up nearly 35% from the $201.9 million the company reported in the first quarter of 2019. Pinterest’s revenue for April was down 8% compared to April 2019, CFO Todd Morgenfeld said on a call with analysts.
“While we’ve been adapting to the current environment, we will continue to invest in our strategic priorities of content, ads diversification, use case expansion and shopping,” Morgenfeld said in a statement. “We’re committed to delivering inspiration to our users and measurable results to businesses.”
Aaron Goldman, CMO, 4C Insights, said: “Prior to the pandemic, Pinterest had cemented itself in the brand playbook and Q1 revenue growth of 35% demonstrates a good deal of resilience. With people staying at home and looking for inspiration, Pinterest is well-positioned and the 55% spike in search activity and 45% increase in new board creation speaks to the utility of the platform. For brands that want to reach consumers at key moments of influence, now is the time to lean into marketing on Pinterest and particularly Pinterest Shopping. We’re seeing this play out in retail and consumer packaged goods as well as categories like technology and telecommunications. Looking ahead, Pinterest has the closed ecosystem advantage to align brands with in-market audiences for demonstrable ROI.”
