What happened
Shares of Pinterest (PINS -1.55%) were gaining today, even though there was no specific news on the image-discovery company. One potential driver of today's move higher may be that Pinterest is now the No. 1 free app on Apple's App Store, ahead of other popular apps like TikTok and Zoom Video Communications.
As of 11:34 a.m. EDT, Pinterest stock was up 5.1%.
Image source: Pinterest.
So what
A number of Twitter users observed that Pinterest had risen to the top of the App Store chart this morning. There was no obvious explanation for the move -- perhaps the back-to-school season or the beginning of fall is driving interest in the virtual pin board -- but it adds to a narrative that Pinterest is seeing its user base blossom during the pandemic.
In its second-quarter report, the company said that its monthly active user base had jumped 39% on a year-over-year basis to 416 million, making it larger than Twitter and Snapchat. Additionally, Pinterest looks well-positioned for the remainder of the year, as e-commerce and online searches are likely to be elevated this holiday season due to the coronavirus pandemic, favoring the image-search tool. For the week of Sept. 9 to Sept. 15, Pinterest also ranked as the No. 2 downloaded app on the App Store in the lifestyle category and No. 1 on Google Play in lifestyle.
Now what
Pinterest shares have now more than doubled this year as the stock soared higher following its blowout second-quarter report in July. Still, the company appears to have a lot of growth in front of it as it's only started to monetize its platform and its user base is surging during the pandemic. Additionally, the success of Facebook has shown how big the opportunity is in social media.
Pinterest's financial results may have to catch up to the stock's surge this year, but given the company's numerous tailwinds, those gains look very much warranted.
