By Elsa Ohlen

Pinterest posted its first ever billion-dollar revenue quarter and forecast higher-than-expected sales for the current period, sending shares of the image-sharing platform skyrocketing.

The company expects sales for the first quarter of 2025 to be between $837 million and $852 million, topping analysts' expectations of $836 million, according to FactSet.

Pinterest's global monthly active users reached an all-time high of 553 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of 11% from the previous year, the company announced after the bell Thursday.

Quarterly revenue came in at $1.15 billion, up 18% from a year ago and above FactSet estimates of $1.14 billion. Shares jumped 22% to $41.12 in premarket trading Friday.

"Our strategy is paying off," said CEO Bill Ready. "People are coming to Pinterest more often, the platform has never been more actionable, and our lower funnel focus is driving results for users and advertisers."

Brokers were hiking price targets on the stock following the report. Evercore raised it to $50 from $43, citing a "modest" beat and raise quarter. Jefferies raised it to $39 from $32, reiterating a Hold rating on shares following what they considered were low expectations coming into print.

Led by James Heaney, the Jefferies analysts said the company is making progress on its advertising business and sees Performance+, its artificial intelligence and automation tool, as the next catalyst for 2025. "All in, the quarter should fuel the bull case," Heaney wrote.

Jefferies downgraded Pinterest to Hold from Buy as late as in January, saying it needs to prove itself as a performance advertising platform.

If premarket gains hold, Pinterest shares will more than recover from the 14% drop seen in November after its third-quarter earning report spooked investors with hefty AI spending.

Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 07, 2025 06:57 ET (11:57 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.