Evercore ISI’s Mark Mahaney has a new top pick: Pinterest . The widely followed analyst named the social media stock his favorite name within the firm’s internet small/mid-caps universe. Mahaney also raised his price target to $45 per share from $41, implying upside of nearly 72% over the next 12 months. Mahaney pointed to the company’s partnership with Amazon as a potential driver of advertising growth, and said Pinterest also had opportunities to further monetize its platform. “It appears that the Amazon partnership is progressing faster than expected, and we believe this can bring materially incremental advertiser demand to the Pinterest platform,” Mahaney said. “We would expect to receive an update on this partnership and on new constructive shareholder return measures at the company’s upcoming Investor Day in mid-September.” Mahaney also highlighted the company’s weak field of competition, and said newly minted chief executive Bill Ready’s efforts to innovate “Shoppable Pins” will help speed up monetization. “Unlike some other Online Advertisers whose tools are communication-based or consumption-based, we believe Pinterest’s primary use cases (inspiration, discovery, action) may face relatively less competition,” Mahaney said. “We have also seen a solid streak of ad product innovations focused on Shoppable Pins since new CEO Bill Ready took the helm, dialing up the monetization engine for the company.” Pinterest stock has climbed 10% in 2023. PINS YTD mountain Pinterest year to date — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
