Pinterest posted strong holiday-quarter revenue and gave an upbeat forecast for sales in the current period, a sign that its advertising business continues to grow despite increased competition from much larger rivals in the social networking space. The shares surged more than 27% in late trading.
Revenue for the current period will be $837 million to $852 million, the company said in a statement Thursday, topping the average analyst estimate of $835 million. Profit, excluding some items, will be $155 million to $170 million, higher than the $141 million Wall Street was projecting. The company, whose app lets people search for images and videos and save them to virtual pinboards, also exceeded analysts’ estimates for fourth-quarter sales and user growth.