Raymond James is bullish on Pinterest , saying that the social media company is on path toward steady long-term growth. The firm initiated coverage on Pinterest with an outperform rating. It set its price target at $33 price target per share, which implies 20.7% upside from Wednesday’s close price. “Pinterest’s unique visual discovery platform and high-intent user base provides an attractive platform for advertisers, [and] we expect steady user growth going forward and increasing engagement metrics driven by international and increasing personalization,” analyst Aaron Kessler wrote in a Wednesday note. Kessler said Pinterest’s high-intent audience can help the company outperform other digital advertising platforms during a macro slowdown. He added that Pinterest is at lesser risk of ad privacy headwinds thanks to its on-platform first-party signals, such as its searches, saves and board curation. “We expect double-digit long-term revenue growth driven by continued product improvements for both Pinners and advertisers, increasing focus on Shopping/eCommerce, video, and international,” Kessler said. The analyst noted that while Pinterest’s margins dropped by an estimated 16% in 2022 due to slower top-line growth and a higher level of investments, he anticipates that “longer-term margins can return to [more than] 30% as revenue growth improves and the pace of investments moderates.” Shares of Pinterest were up less than 0.1% Thursday before the bell after falling by 2.3% during the prior trading session. Meanwhile, shares have risen 12.5% in 2023 and 11.8% over the past 12 months. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.