How To Buy Pinterest Stock

How To Buy Pinterest Stock: Pinterest (PINS) isn’t the first platform you think of when you hear the term “social media,” but maybe it should be. Founded in December 2009, this visual social network has over 300 million unique monthly visitors. According to comScore, it became the fastest site to ever reach 10 million UMV by January 2012.

On April 18, 2019, Pinterest launched its Initial Public Offering with a $10 billion valuation. The stock’s price has since stayed within a plus/minus $10 range of its IPO opening of $24.40. So, what’s the big deal with Pinterest stock, and how do you get involved?

Let’s break down this popular visual network to find out how it became the public company it is today.

Pin This Stock to Your Portfolio

Pinterest was launched as a closed beta in March 2010 and quickly grew based on its unique approach toward encouraging video content, like photos gifs, and videos. By the end of 2011, it was one of the top 10 social networks online and drove more referral traffic for ecommerce than LinkedIn, YouTube, or Google+.

The premise is simple – when you see an image you like around the web, you pin it to your Pinterest board. Pins can be sorted into boards, and other users can be invited to participate on boards as groups. You can also create and upload your own unique pins.

Pinterest’s format is great for long infographics, web comics, and even long-form stories, recipe cards, and instructions. Topics run the gamut of everything you see online, and over time, it became a community all its own.

Most Pinterest users (70%) are female, and between the platform’s users and Pinterest’s high Google Image rankings, it reaches 86% of women aged 25-54. This gives it big exposure for brands.

As you can imagine, this quickly caught the attention of a lot of businesses and the next decade was focused on scaling the company. It secured multiple private funding rounds throughout the 2010s giving it a strong following going into the IPO.

Is Pinterest Stock a Buy?

Although currently listed as a sell, most analysts agree Pinterest is a buy-and-hold option for long-term investment. Its user growth far surpasses Snap, Twitter, and Facebook. It also has a strong year-over-year revenue-per-user growth. While the stock has had ups and downs over the past two years, it’s poised for growth if it can continue delivering on these key metrics.

The base revenue model for Pinterest is simple – brands pay to display sponsored posts to users. Over time, it really built up its backend analytics, on-site shopping, and other powerful features to encourage stronger brand relationships.

Pinterest’s liquidity certainly helps investor confidence. The company’s balance sheet shows it ended 2019 with $650 million in cash, $2.39 billion in total assets, and zero debt. It also generated over $1 billion in revenue over the past year. That’s a great position for any business to be in.

Even more important, Pinterest has largely avoided the controversies and scandals that plagued social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. This gives it room (and reason) to continue its growth pattern.

What to Know Before Buying Pinterest

Things aren’t all roses and rainbows for Pinterest – the company took a $125 GAAP loss at the end of 2019 and has fallen short of expectations on several occasions. While it has a large user base, it’s not even in the top 10 largest social media networks. It’ll need at least 500 million monthly UMV to overtake Tik Tok at the bottom of that list.

It’s also having trouble monetizing its user base. The average revenue per Pinterest user is $0.90, versus $2.12 for Snapchat and $7.26 for Facebook. The company needs to at least double this number to gain any real traction.

U.S. users are at the high end of Pinterest revenue, with a $2.93 per-user earning average. Outside the U.S., this average nosedives down to $0.13. This is a major issue the company will need to figure out if it’s going to expand, and it’s already advertising in 28 countries to gain consumer interest, while teaching businesses to better leverage the platform.

If you want to invest in Pinterest, here’s how to get started.

Open a Brokerage Account

Before buying any stock, you need a brokerage account. Compare the pricing and benefits of each brokerage firm to find the best one for you. You’ll need to fill out an application and provide identification. This can be done online or in person.

We recommend tastyworks for stock, options, and futures traders. It’s a low-cost, self-directed online platform that features live audio / video stream with experts during market hours, as well as tons of useful tools to help make smarter trading decisions.

From there, you’ll need to meet a minimum deposit to fund the account. Once you have a funded brokerage account, you’re ready to buy PINS stock.

First, you’ll want to perform your own due diligence on Pinterest as a company. While we provide general information, it’s by no means professional investment advice. Only you can determine if this company is heading in a direction you like.

How to Place a Buy Pinterest Stock Order

When you’re ready to buy PINS, you must place an order through your broker. A variety of order types exist, but the most common are:

·       Market orders buy at current market price.

·       Limit orders buy when a specified price limit is reached.

·       Stop orders place a ceiling on the allowable stock price.

Once the parameters of the buy order are met, the shares are transferred into your brokerage account. If you’re looking for a good place to buy shares without paying commissions (albeit clearing fees still apply), tastyworks is a top tier broker that was founded by one of the team members who originally created thinkorswim (now part of TD Ameritrade).

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The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Financhill has a disclosure policy. This post may contain affiliate links or links from our sponsors.