Pinterest Stock Eyes Worst Day Ever After Earnings Blunder

Overhead pressure has been seen at the 20- and 30-day moving averages

Although the social media name reported third-quarter earnings that were above analyst estimates, a lower-than-expected quarterly revenue and a narrower-than-anticipated revised full-year sales forecast has Pinterest Inc (NYSE:PINS) deep in the red this morning. Last seen down 21.7% at $19.69, PINS opened at a fresh record low of $18.81 this morning, and is eyeing its worst daily loss ever.

So far, no fewer than nine price-target cuts and one downgrade have been handed out by covering analysts. The steepest comes from Zephirin Group, which slashed its price target all the way down to $14 -- a more than 44% downside to last night's close of $25.14. And while Pivotal Research downgraded to "hold" from "buy," D.A. Davidson went against the grain, upgrading to "buy" from "neutral." Coming into today, eight of 15 brokerage firms carried a tepid "hold" recommendation.

Short sellers -- and there are plenty of them -- are likely cheering today's freefall. Short interest increased by 24% in the past two reporting periods to a record high 19.12 million shares. This accounts for a healthy 22% of the stock's total available float, and three times PINS' average daily trading volume.

From a more technical viewpoint, PINS has suffered on the charts since its mid-April public trading debut. Pressure from both the 20-day and 30-day moving averages have sent the stock into a steep deficit since its Aug. 22 all-time peak of $36.83. In fact, the equity has shed around 33% over the past six months.