Pinterest spikes more than 25% above IPO as investors embrace new unicorn

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Pinterest, the digital scrapbooking site, surged in its debut as a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, finishing the day more than 25% higher than its original price as investors momentarily rallied around technology’s latest unicorn.

The stock hit as high as $24.99 on Thursday, after pricing its initial public offering at $19 late Wednesday, and ended the trading session at $24.40.

The company (PINS) is just one of a stampede of unicorns — private companies that have raised at least $1 billion — set to IPO this year. It began trading the same day as Zoom (ZM), which priced its own IPO at $36 a share.

Pinterest’s IPO pricing at $19 was above a price range of $15 to $17 a share it set in an amended S-1 filing earlier this month. The initial lower range raised some concerns because it would have valued the site lower than its valuation after its latest round of private financing.

Source: David Foster/Yahoo Finance
Source: David Foster/Yahoo Finance

Still, the company’s revenue is growing steadily as its losses are falling, underscoring why markets are embracing Pinterest’s stock — at least for now.

“I think Pinterest has a proven business model, a cult following, and its customers are very loyal to the company and the solution that it provides,” Alejandro Ortiz, a research analyst with SharesPost, a San Francisco private trading marketplace, told Yahoo Finance in an interview.

Zoom, one of the few profitable tech unicorns, may be an even better bet for investors — its shares starting trading on Thursday at $65 a share, 80.5% above IPO price.

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