Pinterest: overhyped and overpriced

Pinterest, the digital pinboard, is eye-waveringly expensive, says Matthew Partridge. An ideal candidate for shorting.

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Pinterest co-founders Evan Sharp (left)and Ben Silbermann: pride before a fall?
(Image credit: Copyright (c) 2019 Shutterstock. No use without permission.)

Many people on Wall Street are gleefully anticipating the initial public offering (IPO) of Uber. The flotation of the ride-hailing company's shares is expected to raise enough cash to value the entire group at $90bn. However, Uber isn't the only game in town, as several tech firms have already gone public, including Pinterest at the end of April. The best way to describe Pinterest is as a social network based around images. The idea is that you "pin" photos that you come across on the internet so you can share them with your friends.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri