Pinterest stock is taking a beating, as investors are turning bearish on digital companies yet to turn a profit. But, for Pinterest, the 'yet' could be coming soon, as its alternative data paints a far rosier picture than a number of the other big-name startups that launched 2019 IPOs only to have their newly-minted listed stock lose nearly 50% of its value from shares' peak. 

With Pinterest's Facebook ($PINS) Talking About Count, we can tell that there's a big spike up in the online shopping social network, about a couple of weeks before the holidays. At the far right of our chart, we can also see that the trend appears to be repeating itself. 

There are plenty of startups that saw their sagging share prices sap hiring ambition. Not Pinterest, though - in 2019, its job postings rose 48%, as it continued to scale up - hopefully in anticipation of a big holiday shopping season, although investors won't know the full outcome until earnings at the end of January.  

Pinterest is dependent - in part - on social media traffic, which is what makes its Facebook Talking About Count relevant as a performance metric. But, it's also dependent on the digital marketplace to fuel its growth - and that's what makes Pinterest's Apple ($AAPL) Store Ratings Count (the graphic above) and Pinterest's average rating in the store so important. As our chart tracks, it grew its rating count by 18% in 2019 - a clear signal of engagement - and user reviews (the graphic below) logged a 3.2% year-over-year increase. 

About the Data: 

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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