What happened

Shares of Pinterest (PINS -0.47%) have surged today, up by 17% as of 1:15 p.m. EDT, after the freshly public company reported strong second-quarter earnings results. The social media specialist crushed estimates and boosted full-year guidance.

So what

Revenue in the second quarter increased 62% to $261.2 million, easily topping the consensus estimate of $235.5 million in sales. That top-line growth represented acceleration from the 54% jump that Pinterest reported in Q1. That all translated into an adjusted net loss of $24.5 million, or $0.06 per share. Pinterest also hit 300 million monthly active users (MAUs) worldwide, with average revenue per use (ARPU) rising 29% to $0.88.

Pinterest app displayed on on two smartphones

Image source: Pinterest.

As reported under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Pinterest posted a net loss of $1.16 billion, although much of that red ink related to one-time charges associated with stock-based compensation expenses in connection with the company's April IPO.

Now what

"These results were driven by investments we've been making to help people get inspiration, to plan their lives, and help them to make their plans a reality offline," CEO Ben Silbermann said on the conference call.

Pinterest raised its full-year outlook, and now expects total revenue this year to be $1.095 billion to $1.115 billion, up from its prior forecast of $1.055 billion to $1.08 billion in sales. Adjusted EBITDA should be negative $25 million to negative $50 million, an improvement relative to the previous outlook of negative $45 million to negative $70 million.