Key Takeaways

• Pinterest shares fell early Friday following a third-quarter earnings report with lower profits than expected.

• Revenue came in narrowly above estimates, as the company said its new AI advertising features are making ads on the platform more effective.

• Pinterest's fourth-quarter revenue projections came in below expectations, as analysts said Pinterest is facing "pressure" in food and beverage advertising.

Pinterest (PINS) shares slumped about 16% Friday morning after the social media company's third-quarter net income fell short of estimates.

The company reported $898.37 million in revenue, 18% above last year's third-quarter revenue, but less than $500,000 above what analysts had expected, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Pinterest reported $30.56 million in net income, up from 6.7 million the same time last year but below the $49.43 million analysts had projected.

“Our AI investments are driving results by powering better personalized experiences and greater performance for advertisers, with our lower-funnel ad tools being the fastest-growing part of our business," Pinterest CEO Bill Ready said.

For the fourth quarter, Pinterest projects revenue between $1.125 billion to $1.145 billion, just below the analyst consensus of $1.148 billion heading into Thursday's earnings. JPMorgan analysts said following the earnings that the projected revenue weakness is due to "pressure" facing advertising from the food and beverage industry, which has remained lower over the last several quarters.

The analysts, lowering their price target to $35 from $38, said they expect Pinterest's artificial intelligence (AI)-powered advertising features will take several quarters to grow and become widely used by the platform's advertising partners.

Pinterest shares were down to $28.52 by midday Friday, about 22% below where they started the year.

UPDATE—Nov. 8, 2024: This article has been updated to include fresh stock prices.