The Beginning Of The End For Social Media - Pinterest (PINS) Q4 FY12/25 Earnings Review
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$PINS (Pinterest, Inc.) Q4 FY12/25 Earnings Review
by Alex King, CEO, Cestrian Capital Research, Inc,
Background: Social Under Attack
The recent jury finding in Los Angeles, awarding $3MM in damages against Meta Platforms and Google with regard to causing mental distress, is a tiny drop in the ocean, an amount of money so small it won’t even register vs. the legal fees incurred by the two giants in defense of the case. The money doesn’t matter. The trend matters. Multidistrict litigation is on the rise across the US. I think we will see penetration of social media start to decline, initially with minors and then amongst the adult population. Slowly, very slowly.
Now this is fine for Google and others who have many strings to their bows; more difficult for Meta Platforms, and more difficult still for smaller pureplays like Pinterest. I am not sure anyone is arguing that a surfeit of pastel tones is harming their mental health or that one too many mood boards cause them to rage-quit their life; but I am sure that if social trades off, multiples will come down and those same reduced multiples will apply to PINS stock too.
Add that to the lackluster financial performance of this thing and I believe it is time for the board to put the company up for sale and take any reasonable price. Er, in cash.
The upside in the stock is, I believe, a sale of the company, and the downside is a slow slide into irrelevance..
We move to Not Rated and cease coverage of Pinterest today.
But for the record, here are the numbers, the valuation, stock chart and rating.
PINS Fundamentals
Growth peaked a year ago and keeps slowing. Margins are ticking up, but that’s not a key driver of valuation for these kinds of stocks.
PINS Valuation
PINS Stock Chart
$36 or better puts the majority of holders into profit. So that’s the floor price for a sale in my view.
Questions? Points? Agree, Disagree?
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Cestrian Capital Research, Inc - 28 March 2026