PINS heads into its May 4 Q1 2026 results with a striking reversal in short positioning — one that makes the setup notably more contested than the headline numbers suggest.
The most dramatic shift in the data is the sharp unwind in short interest. Shorts fell nearly 28% in a week, dropping from around 96 million shares to just under 69.2 million — now 11.6% of the free float. That retreat happened rapidly across April 23–24. What changed isn't clear from positioning data alone, but the timing is notable ahead of earnings. Cost to borrow has collapsed alongside the unwind, falling more than 30% week-on-week to just 0.34% — practically free. Borrow availability is very loose, meaning new shorts face no structural barrier to re-entering. The ORTEX short score of 56.4 sits in a mid-range zone, well below recent peaks above 59 from earlier in April, reinforcing the picture of pressure easing rather than building.
Options positioning tells a more cautious story. The put/call ratio has climbed to 0.77 — roughly 0.7 standard deviations above its 20-day mean of 0.72 — and has been trending upward since mid-April. It hasn't reached an extreme; the 52-week high is 1.15 and the low is 0.49. But the direction of travel is clear: options traders have been steadily adding downside protection even as the stock recovered 9% over the past month to close at $19.66. The slight drift toward puts suggests hedging rather than outright bearish conviction.
The debate among analysts is genuinely split. Bulls point to a recovering digital advertising model, recent partnership momentum, and improving profitability — UBS raised its target to $29 this month, maintaining its Buy. Bears counter with real structural concerns: advertising revenue vulnerability to tariff-related macro softness, competitive pressure from AI and chatbot-driven search alternatives, and a co-founder structure that limits outside influence. That concern materialized in February when the stock fell 19% the day after the Q4 report. Most of the Street remains constructive, with a mean target around $23 implying roughly 17% upside from current levels — but most bellwether names trimmed targets over the past two months, with Morgan Stanley cutting from $35 to $27 in late March and JPMorgan downgrading to Neutral in February with a $20 target.
Insider activity adds a mild headwind to the story. The CEO sold roughly 32,000 shares at $20.64 on April 20, and the CFO offloaded nearly 36,000 shares in March. The net insider position over 90 days is modestly negative by value — approximately $4.7 million in net sales — though individually each trade was flagged as low significance. BlackRock added over 27 million shares as of March 31 and is now the largest institutional holder at 11.4%, a counter-signal worth noting.
The Q1 print will test whether Pinterest's advertising revenue held up against a difficult macro backdrop — and whether management can credibly reframe the AI disruption narrative as an opportunity rather than an existential threat.
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