Pinterest (PINS)

Stock's down 75% over last 5 years. Reasonable monthly active user base. Obvious AI threats. On the plus side, Elliott Management has invested ~$1B.

It had a slight miss in the last quarter but the stock took a tumble of 17%. It is growing in the mid-teens (at 15%) and has a valuation in the mid-teens which equals a buying opportunity. They have had a new manager since 2022 who is bringing in more AI which is increasing user experience and creating more cost effective ads. . It is just getting into TV advertising.  User satisfaction is increasing. Also now you can find something on Pinterest and buy it through the site, creating another source of revenue.             Buy 33  Hold 9  Sell 1

Sideways channel since 2022. The 200-day MA is flat, and the price is below it. Trading ~14x forward PE for 10-15% growth, so valuation's not the concern. Weak holiday sales, plus slowdown in North America. Focus on international markets hasn't been great, as margins are weaker. Ad prices on the platform are falling.

Look elsewhere.

Growth rates are impressive, with expectations for mid-teens EPS growth. Well over 500M monthly active users (400M outside NA, which is interesting). A social platform, which all have taken over the world. Big competition, but a lucrative area. Reasonable multiple. 

No strong opinion against taking a position. However, wonders how wide their standalone moat is. He'd prefer something like META, which has Instagram as part of a much bigger organization.

It has been around a long time but many people don't realize that 2 1/2 years ago new management came in and really changed things. They improved the site and are using AI to make both the content and ads more relevant to the users. In the last quarter it had 16% revenue growth and the number of users was up 10% year over year and is accelerating. Ads are increasing too. It also raised guidance. Trades at less than 19 X earnings.
Buy 31  Hold 10  Sell 0

In just 3 months, this has jumped from $25 to $37. Take some profits.

It is an interesting name. It is very focused on particular interest groups in the social media space. It did well during the pandemic and has pulled back. He does not think it will gain market share from the other social media companies. He would prefer FB-Q or GOOG-Q.

It's surged from $34 to $84 since the TikTok deal collapsed, and now trades at 20x sales--one of the priciest stocks around. He'd like Microsoft to buy Pinterest. PINS benefits from a shift to kinder social media, post-Trump.

Likes the product. Concern is one of scale. How much bigger can it be, and how compelling is the product? Likes the cyclical aspect of increased ad revenues. Better ways to get access to those revenues, such as Google or a media content library owner.