PINS Rides on Strength in Ad Business: Can Momentum Sustain?

Pinterest, Inc. PINS is benefiting from improving advertiser demand as AI integration strengthens its advertising platform. Pinterest Performance+ automates several aspects of campaign management, including targeting, bidding, budgeting and creative optimization. Advertisers using Performance+ are generating better returns on ad spend.

Pinterest is also broadening Performance+ with new capabilities. Its Smart Assembly feature allows advertisers without product catalogs to upload multiple images, after which Pinterest automatically selects and serves creative suited to individual impressions. The company is simultaneously developing Business Assistant, an AI-based tool designed to empower advertisers with recommendations on trends, high-performing Pins and campaign optimization opportunities.

Steady growth in user base and expansion in the international market provide an important foundation for its advertising business. Global monthly active users increased 11% year over year to 640 million in the second quarter. More than half of its users are Gen Z. Pinterest’s platform generates more than 80 billion searches every month and has more than 16 billion boards. These engagement and intent signals give advertisers access to users who are often exploring products and ideas with commercial intent.  These factors are driving demand for Pinterest AI native advertising tools and boosting the company's commercial prospects for upcoming quarters.

How Are Competitors Faring?

Pinterest faces competition from META Platforms, Inc. META and Snap, Inc. SNAP in the social media space. Snap is helping advertisers reach millennials and Gen Z audiences, who are more active on immersive mobile platforms like Snapchat. Its Ads Model Context Protocol server integration went live in August 2026, allowing advertisers to connect third-party AI tools to authorized campaign data for agentic campaign advice. AI is becoming central to Snap's product experience and advertising infrastructure. Smart Audience, Smart Budget and Smart Placement already account for nearly 70% of advertising spend using at least one automation solution.

Meta’s scale in data and distribution supports faster iteration in both consumer experiences and ad performance. In second-quarter 2026, Family of Apps revenues rose 28% year over year to $60.4 billion as ad impressions increased 14% and average price per ad increased 12%. Meta also deployed more predictive ad models, including Meta Generative Recommender.

PINS’ Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Pinterest has declined 45.7% over the past year compared with the industry’s decline of 12.9%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, Pinterest trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 2.06, below the industry.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Pinterest’s earnings for 2026 has increased over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Pinterest currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days

Just released: Experts distill 7 elite stocks from the current list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys. They deem these tickers "Most Likely for Early Price Pops."

Since 1988, the full list has beaten the market more than 2X over with an average gain of +23.9% per year. So be sure to give these hand picked 7 your immediate attention. 

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research