What Pinterest (PINS) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call

Key Points

• Third-quarter revenue rose 12% to $1.174 billion, but missed Pinterest’s prior outlook as European regulatory changes drove cross-border sellers to reduce advertising spending. Europe revenue was roughly flat, while U.S. and Canada revenue grew 14%.
• User growth remained strong, with global monthly active users reaching a record 661 million, up 10% year over year. Pinterest is emphasizing AI-powered recommendations, visual search and shopping features to improve engagement and advertising performance.
• Pinterest forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $1.425 billion to $1.475 billion, representing 8% to 12% growth, and expects adjusted EBITDA of $538 million to $588 million. Management said international pressure may stabilize but is unlikely to be fully offset in the near term.

Pinterest NYSE: PINS reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $1.174 billion, up 12% from a year earlier, as growth in its U.S. and Canada business was offset by pressure on international revenue tied to European regulatory changes and an internal sales reorganization.

Chief Executive Officer Bill Ready said revenue came in below the company’s prior outlook range, primarily because cross-border sellers reduced spending more sharply than Pinterest expected following changes to Europe’s de minimis exemption. The company said the pullback accounted for about three percentage points of the sequential change in global revenue growth from the second quarter to the third quarter.

“We are not happy with that result,” Ready said, while adding that the company delivered adjusted EBITDA within its expected range and is pursuing a broader, more durable revenue base through performance advertising, measurement tools and changes to its international go-to-market organization.

User Growth and Engagement Continue

Pinterest ended the quarter with a record 661 million global monthly active users, an increase of 10% year over year and its 13th consecutive quarter of record users. The company reported 107 million monthly active users in the U.S. and Canada, up 4%; 161 million in Europe, up 7%; and 394 million in the rest of the world, up 13%.

Ready said searches, boards created and outbound clicks in the U.S. and Canada grew faster than users during the quarter. Pinterest said users conduct more than 80 billion searches per month on the platform, with most of those searches being visual and more than half commercial in nature.

Gen Z represented 57% of Pinterest users and was the company’s fastest-growing and most engaged cohort, according to Ready. Two-thirds of Gen Z users say they come to Pinterest to shop, and the company said average revenue per user for Gen Z in the U.S. and Canada is comparable with that of millennials.

About 70% of Pinterest search journeys begin with a proactive recommendation from its AI-enabled systems before a user enters a search query, Ready said. The company is using its Pinterest Intelligence platform, which combines first-party signals, visual understanding and AI models, to improve recommendations and advertising performance.

International Headwinds Weigh on Revenue

Revenue in the U.S. and Canada totaled $894 million, up 14%, supported by retail, financial services and health advertisers. Ready said U.S. and Canada revenue has increased at a mid-teens rate year to date, representing an acceleration from 2025.

Europe revenue was $193 million, roughly flat on a reported basis and up 1% on a constant-currency basis. Pinterest said the cross-border seller pullback represented an approximately 11-point drag on Europe’s year-over-year growth rate.

Revenue in the rest of the world reached $87 million, increasing 24% on a reported basis and 21% on a constant-currency basis.

Global revenue growth decelerated from 18% in the second quarter to 12% in the third quarter. Pinterest attributed about two percentage points of the decline to the timing of Prime Day and World Cup-related advertiser spending, three points to the European de minimis change and one point to foreign exchange effects.

During the question-and-answer session, Ready said the company has seen stabilization in the cross-border spending pressure during the fourth quarter. He also said growth in Pinterest’s core European enterprise business, excluding cross-border sellers, had reaccelerated above its second-quarter level on a quarter-to-date basis in the fourth quarter.

However, Ready said the company does not expect the benefits of international sales changes to fully offset cross-border seller pressure in the fourth quarter. He said some retailers have discussed using local warehouses to adapt to the new regulations, though such changes could take time.

Advertising and AI Product Initiatives

Pinterest said it is continuing to develop lower-funnel advertising products and measurement capabilities. Visual Search Ads, a beta product, is designed to help advertisers reach users in visual search results and Pin close-ups. The format allows advertisers to use existing product catalogs and keyword targeting.

The company also launched an app-install objective in beta with qualified advertisers globally, targeting a category where Pinterest has not historically been a significant participant.

Pinterest Performance+, the company’s AI-powered campaign offering, now enables advertisers to add priority keywords, interests and product groups while tracking results for those inputs. Ready said larger advertisers have sought greater control and transparency within automated campaigns.

In addition, Pinterest is integrating sophisticated advertisers’ in-house measurement systems with its AI bidding tools. In an early test with a leading e-commerce platform, the advertiser recorded 77% higher new-customer return on ad spend based on its proprietary measurement system, according to the company.

Pinterest Assistant, its conversational AI feature, became generally available in the U.S. during the quarter. Ready said about 80% of searches conducted through the Assistant are commercial, compared with more than half of searches across Pinterest overall. The company is also scaling its Ask mode, which is intended to assist with multi-step discovery journeys such as travel planning.

The company said it is expanding programmatic partnerships with platforms including Google DV360, Amazon DVA+ and Yahoo DSP, with Magnite serving as a supply-side partner. Ready said the partnerships are intended to make it easier for advertisers to buy Pinterest inventory and could broaden demand over time, though he cautioned that such partnerships take time to ramp.

Profitability and Fourth-Quarter Outlook

Third-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $339 million, producing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 29%, down 30 basis points from a year earlier. Free cash flow totaled $300 million, and trailing 12-month free cash flow was nearly $1.26 billion, representing 90% free cash flow conversion.

Pinterest ended the quarter with $1.5 billion in cash equivalents and marketable securities. The company had 5,192 employees at quarter-end, down slightly year over year, including employees acquired through tvScientific. Excluding the acquisition, headcount declined 4%.

For the fourth quarter, Pinterest forecast revenue of $1.425 billion to $1.475 billion, representing growth of 8% to 12%. The company expects foreign exchange to be a modest headwind and said it widened its revenue outlook range to reflect a broader set of potential outcomes.

Pinterest projected fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $538 million to $588 million and reiterated an expectation for full-year adjusted EBITDA margins of approximately 30%.

James Dibbo, who joined Pinterest as chief financial officer earlier in the week after serving in finance leadership roles at Amazon, said he sees “enormous upside opportunity” for the company as a visual search, shopping and advertising platform.

About Pinterest (NYSE:PINS)

Pinterest, Inc NYSE: PINS operates a visual discovery platform that helps people find ideas and inspiration for activities such as home improvement, cooking, fashion, travel and event planning. Users can discover, save and organize images and videos—known as Pins—on personalized boards and explore recommendations based on their interests.

The company also provides tools for businesses and creators to showcase products and content on the platform. Its advertising business includes promoted Pins and other advertising formats designed to help marketers reach users while they are discovering ideas, researching products and planning purchases.

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