Pinterest (PINS) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Oct. 29, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury – Andrew Somberg
• Chief Executive Officer – Bill Ready
• Chief Financial Officer – James Dibbo

TAKEAWAYS

• Revenue — $1.174 billion, growing 12% driven by performance from retail, financial services, health, and travel verticals.
• Global Monthly Active Users (MAUs) — 661 million, representing 10% growth and reaching an all-time high for the company.
• Adjusted EBITDA — $339.2 million, an 11% increase from the prior year while maintaining a 29% margin.
• Free Cash Flow — $300.3 million for the quarter, contributing to a total of $1.26 billion generated over the trailing 12 months.
• U.S. and Canada Revenue — $894 million, representing 14% growth led by retail and healthcare categories.
• Europe Revenue — $193 million, remaining flat on a reported basis due to an 11-percentage-point drag from cross-border seller pullbacks.
• Rest of World Revenue — $87 million, growing 24% on a reported basis as the company expands international monetization efforts.
• U.S. and Canada MAUs — 107 million, reflecting 4% growth as engagement continues to deepen in core markets.
• Europe MAUs — 161 million, representing 7% growth and reaching record levels in the region.
• Rest of World MAUs — 394 million, growing 13% as the company captures international visual search demand.
• Non-GAAP Net Income Per Share — $0.46, an increase from $0.38 in the third quarter of 2025.
• Ad Impressions — 17% growth, driven by increased user engagement and improvements in ad delivery algorithms.
• Ad Pricing — 4% decline, occurring as the growth in ad impressions outpaced total revenue growth during the quarter.
• Non-GAAP Cost of Revenue — $250 million, up 21% reflecting higher infrastructure spending and increased investments in GPU capacity for AI.
• Non-GAAP Operating Expense — $591 million, up 9% due to investments in sales headcount and research and development for product initiatives.
• Q4 Revenue Guidance — $1.425 billion to $1.475 billion, representing expected growth of 8% to 12% year over year.
• Q4 Adjusted EBITDA Guidance — $538 million to $588 million, reflecting continued investment in growth initiatives.
• Gen Z User Cohort — 57% of total users, representing the fastest-growing and most engaged demographic on the platform.
• Monthly Search Volume — 80 billion searches, with more than 50% of those searches identified as having commercial intent.
• Pinterest Assistant Engagement — 80% commercial intent, significantly higher than the platform-wide average for searches.
• Total Headcount — 5,192 employees, reflecting a 4% year-over-year decline when excluding the acquisition of tvScientific.
• Cash and Marketable Securities — $1.5 billion, providing the company with liquidity to navigate market fluctuations.
• U.S. and Canada ARPU — $8.38, representing 10% growth from $7.64 in the prior year.

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RISKS

• Ready stated, “The regulatory impact was greater than we anticipated,” noting that changes to the European de minimis exemption for cross-border sellers reduced global revenue growth by 3 percentage points.
• Ready noted that the company saw “near-term disruption from the transition of our international go-to-market organization” as it restructured its sales leadership.
• Management warned that it expects “foreign exchange to be a modest headwind in Q4” based on current currency spot rates.

SUMMARY

Pinterest, Inc. (PINS +3.82%) reported 12% revenue growth and record user numbers while managing regulatory headwinds in its international segments. Management attributed the revenue result partly to a significant pullback from cross-border sellers following changes to the de minimis exemption in Europe. The company is transitioning its international operations to a performance-oriented sales model, which follows the approach previously implemented in its U.S. and Canada markets. Management reported that Pinterest is expanding its advertising reach through new programmatic partnerships and AI-integrated shopping features.

• CEO Ready noted that approximately 70% of search journeys on Pinterest begin with a proactive recommendation made by AI-enabled systems before a user types a word.
• The company announced programmatic partnerships with demand-side platforms representing two-thirds of the market, including Google DV360 and Amazon DSP.
• Ready indicated that Visual Search Ads, a new format in beta, allow advertisers to appear at the top of search results and Pin close-ups where users exhibit high intent.
• Management reported that the European enterprise business growth rate, excluding cross-border sellers, has re-accelerated in the fourth quarter to date above its second-quarter level.
• The company introduced Restyle in beta, which utilizes proprietary AI to help users reimagine rooms by adding or replacing shoppable products from the Pinterest catalog.
• Management stated that year-to-date revenue in the U.S. and Canada has grown at a mid-teens rate, representing a clear acceleration from the 2025 fiscal year.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• MAU: Monthly Active User, an authenticated user who visits or interacts with the platform at least once in a 30-day period.
• ARPU: Average Revenue Per User, a metric calculated by dividing total revenue in a geography by the average number of MAUs in that region.
• De minimis exemption: A tax and duty threshold that allows small-value imports to enter a country without certain regulatory charges.
• DSP: Demand-Side Platform, a system that allows digital ad buyers to manage multiple ad and data exchange accounts through one interface.
• UCAN: United States and Canada geographic reporting region.
• Pinterest Performance+: An AI-powered campaign solution that automates and optimizes ad targeting and delivery for advertisers.
• ROAS: Return on Ad Spend, a marketing metric that measures the amount of revenue a business earns for each dollar it spends on advertising.
• Agentic Discovery: AI functionality that proactively assists users by recommending actions and ideas based on personal taste and intent.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to Pinterest’s third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. After today’s prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Andrew Somberg, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

Andrew Somberg: Good afternoon and thank you for joining us. Welcome to Pinterest’s earnings call for the third q

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