Pinterest spikes more than 25% above IPO as investors embrace new unicorn

Pinterest, the digital scrapbooking site, surged in its debut as a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, finishing the day more than 25% higher than its original price as investors momentarily rallied around technology’s latest unicorn.

The stock hit as high as $24.99 on Thursday, after pricing its initial public offering at $19 late Wednesday, and ended the trading session at $24.40.

The company (PINS) is just one of a stampede of unicorns — private companies that have raised at least $1 billion — set to IPO this year. It began trading the same day as Zoom (ZM), which priced its own IPO at $36 a share.

Pinterest’s IPO pricing at $19 was above a price range of $15 to $17 a share it set in an amended S-1 filing earlier this month. The initial lower range raised some concerns because it would have valued the site lower than its valuation after its latest round of private financing.

Still, the company’s revenue is growing steadily as its losses are falling, underscoring why markets are embracing Pinterest’s stock — at least for now.

“I think Pinterest has a proven business model, a cult following, and its customers are very loyal to the company and the solution that it provides,” Alejandro Ortiz, a research analyst with SharesPost, a San Francisco private trading marketplace, told Yahoo Finance in an interview.

Zoom, one of the few profitable tech unicorns, may be an even better bet for investors — its shares starting trading on Thursday at $65 a share, 80.5% above IPO price.