Mixed results continue to emerge from Pinterest, which today published its Q2 2022 performance update, reflecting no growth in active users and revenue intake lower than expected.

However, analysts saw various positives in the numbers, considering they were not as bad as some had expected given the broader economic downturn impacting all social apps.

And there is another important point of note that could play a key role in Pinterest's future direction.

First off, on users – Pinterest remains at 433 million monthly actives, the same figure that it posted in Q1, when its user count started to move in the right direction once again.
Which forced more people into online shopping, Pinterest saw a big jump in interest, reaching 478 million actives at peak. But as COVID restrictions have eased, and physical shopping has resumed, those numbers have steadily declined - though Pinterest did add an additional 2 million in the last reporting period.

That, investors hoped, meant Pinterest had hit its low, and would now stabilize, then begin to grow back. Which appears to hold for now, and given those other impacts on the bigger market, which have impacted the results of all other platforms, it seems okay.

The biggest declines for Pinterest were seen in Europe, where Russia's invasion of Ukraine has had, and will continue to have, a range of ongoing impacts. Pinterest's biggest growth, on the other hand, has come in the 'Rest of the World' category, which includes Latin America, where the platform is looking to maximize its business opportunities, along with developing markets like India and Indonesia.

This can translate to massive potential in each of those markets as well: Latin America, after all, hosts 84 million Pinterest users, with its Average Revenue Per User charts showing how far along there is yet in keeping pace, again by way of regions beyond the United States.
Pinterest is still developing its ad platform worldwide, so there is much more potential there, at least partly why investors remain positive about the platform. That, in addition to the fact, according to TechCrunch, Elliott Investment Management reportedly recently bought a 9 percent stake in the company to become the largest shareholder on the app.

Which could be a good thing – Elliott Management has a history of acquiring assets in companies that it believes may be performing better, then using its newfound influence to provoke effective change. Which is what led Twitter to step up its strategic plans, ahead of the Elon Musk takeover push, but that may also imply that Elliott will be looking for similar changes and development acceleration at Pinterest at some stage too.

Which can squeeze more money out of the app, but may also mean a shake-up for those involved.
"Pinterest is a very strategic business with a tremendous growth potential, and our belief in the value creation opportunity at Pinterest today has made us the Company's largest investor. As the market leader platform at the intersection of social media, search and commerce, Pinterest occupies an unparalleled position in the ecosystem of advertising and shopping and the right CEO to spearhead Pinterest's next wave of growth.". We congratulate Ben Silbermann and the Board for the leadership transition and welcome further collaborative work with Ben, Bill and the Board on their path to the complete realization of Pinterest.
Sounds innocent enough, but also a little ominous considering the background of Elliott, past initiatives as an activist shareholder group.

As far as the revenues are concerned, Pinterest continues to progress with $665.9 million up 9% year over year.
the growth potential, and you can rest assured that Elliott will be urging Pinterest to realize this potential sooner rather than later.

Incoming CEO Bill Ready, who joined from Google in June to take the reins from founder Ben Silbermann, might have his work cut out for him as he looks to handle expectations around such, while at the same time maximizing development resources and growth.  

And this won't help:

"Our total costs and expenses grew 29% year over year due to headcount growth as well as increased infrastructure spend."

More functionality demands more investment, and Pinterest is pumping in more money in development as it expands its ad platform and engagement tools.

In this space, Pinterest also released a new app called Shuffles for piecing together collages from photos.
Not quite sure that it adds much to the overall Pin experience, but it points to the app's ongoing direction and focus on building in new elements.

In its notes and earnings call, Pinterest has outlined its key areas of growth, with video now up to 10 percent of time spent in the app.

And like all apps, Pinterest is looking to move into line with the short-form video trend.

As for the CFO of Pinterest, Todd Morgenfeld,

"We're seeing relevance almost at parity across Idea Pins and our static images, which is a big improvement."

Looking ahead, the firm anticipates 'mid-single digit' revenue growth during Q3, while 'expense growth is expected to grow in the range of 35-40 percent year over year'.

So once again, mixed bag of results and insights that either suggest that Pinterest is stabilizing, and may well be about to see a significant boost in growth and activity. Or that it needs to limit its expenses, in order to maximize its intake.

Either way, could have a big impact, and it will be interesting to see if Pinterest accelerates its release schedule in the second half of the year.