This Stock Is Already Up 34% in 2025. Its Growth Is Getting a Big Boost From Amazon and Alphabet.

In the history of the stock market, very few companies have ever been worth $1 trillion or more. But Amazon (AMZN -0.73%) and Alphabet (GOOG -0.54%) (GOOGL -0.49%), which is the parent company of Google, are two of them. It’s hard to think of any two companies as big and as important as these. And this duo is currently boosting growth for a much smaller company.

I’m talking about image-browsing platform Pinterest (PINS -0.56%). The company’s 553 million monthly active users usually jump on the platform to get ideas. They can click on pictures that they like, which brings up more, similar images. By browsing in this way, Pinterest’s users can get ideas for things such as do-it-yourself home projects, or they can discover things that they’d like to buy.

It’s that last element that ultimately drives Pinterest’s business model. The platform is free to use, leaving the company to generate revenue from advertising. Brands and marketers like the Pinterest platform because people come to the platform with a predisposition to buy something, as opposed to just socialize like on other social media platforms.

On Feb. 6, Pinterest reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024 — a key catalyst in the stock’s 34% year-to-date gains. Its Q4 revenue was up a strong 18%, which is why investors are upbeat. But the biggest part of this business is also the least monetized part. And that’s where Amazon and Alphabet come into this promising story.

How Pinterest is getting help from a pair of tech giants

Pinterest has active users in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. But nearly 56% of its users come from places other than these. These “rest of world” users consequently are the biggest part of the business. And they’re also the least monetized.

On average, Pinterest made $6.94 per user in 2024. But among users outside of the U.S., Canada, and Europe, it made just $0.59 each. That’s over a 90% lower monetization than its average for the business as a whole. And that’s a big deal considering this is over half of its user base.

However, the horizon looks brighter. In Q4, average revenue per user for these rest-of-world users was $0.19, which was up a whopping 24% year over year. In short, growth is picking up in one of the most important parts of the business. And management credits some of this to its partnerships with Amazon and Google.

When it comes to digital advertising, Google is obviously the top dog in the space. But Amazon is a huge player as well. During 2024, Pinterest scaled partnerships with these two companies. In short, the company struggled to drum up first-party advertising demand in many international markets — the platform is too new and unknown for advertisers to give it a try. But they’re far less reluctant to spend with behemoths such as Google and Amazon.

Google and Amazon are integrating their ads with Pinterest’s platform. And with these third-party partnerships, Pinterest is generating more revenue per user. That’s a good thing regardless of which market it happens in. But long term, it could be very good if it helps the company scale revenue among its rest-of-world users because this is where most of its users are.

There are certainly other aspects to this business to consider before investing in Pinterest stock. But suffice it to say that potential returns for shareholders are promising thanks to its monetization improvements in the rest of the world. And that trend could continue thanks to Pinterest’s key partnerships with Google and Amazon.