Společnost The Trade Desk očekává ve třetím čtvrtletí roku 2026 tržby ve výši nejméně 650 mil. USD, což představuje meziroční pokles zhruba o 12 %; růst tržeb ve druhém čtvrtletí zpomalil na 3 %.
Anyone who bought The Trade Desk (TTD +0.24%) on its first day of trading and hung on has seen the stock climb over 40-fold, then give most of it back. The ad tech company's shares finished that first day, Sept. 21, 2016, at $30.10 -- or around $3.01 adjusted for the 10-for-1 stock split in 2021.
At $3.01 a share, $10,000 bought around 3,322 shares. At the stock's $12.23 close on Oct. 16, these shares are worth around $40,600. Put simply, the stake is still worth about four times what it cost, though the stock trades 91% below its December 2024 peak of $139.51.
At that peak, the same stake was worth around $463,000.
But the company held up on the way down, at least until this year. Actually, I think the most telling point is that The Trade Desk makes more per share now than it did at the peak.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
A decade of growthThe Trade Desk's software lets brands and ad agencies bid on digital ad space automatically (what the industry calls a demand-side platform), and the climb was built on its results. Revenue in 2016 was around $203 million. By 2024, it was $2.4 billion, after rising around 36% a year on average. The company made a profit in every one of those years. And spending on its platform hit $12 billion in 2024, a record.
Even the 2022 sell-off didn't break that pattern. The stock lost around half its value that year, but revenue rose about 32% year over year to $1.6 billion.
Shares went on to set their record two years later.
By then, though, investors were paying a lot for that growth. At $139.51, the stock traded at almost 230 times earnings, based on the $0.61 of earnings per share The Trade Desk had generated over the last 12 months. A price-to-earnings ratio like that arguably only made sense if fast growth kept going for many more years.
What did the crash take?The first big drop came with a miss on the company's own forecast. The Trade Desk had guided for fourth-quarter 2024 revenue of at least $756 million, and it reported $741 million. Shares fell 33% a day later, in February 2025.
Worse, the stock shed another 39% in a single session in August 2025, the largest one-day drop since it went public. The company had just said its CFO was leaving, and it guided for third-quarter revenue growth of at least 14% year over year, a slowdown from 19% growth in the second quarter.
Growth kept slowing after that. Revenue climbed 18% year over year in the third quarter of 2025, but only 3% in the second quarter of 2026. And for the third quarter of 2026, management guided for revenue of at least $650 million, around 12% below the year-ago quarter.
The stock even lost its spot in the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.41%), which it had joined in July 2025. It went to the S&P SmallCap 600 on Sept. 21.
But profits have held up much better than the stock. Over the four quarters through June, The Trade Desk earned $0.84 a share, up from $0.61 at the peak. At $12.23, the stock trades at less than 15 times those earnings.
So most of what the stock gave back was its valuation. The price-to-earnings ratio dropped from almost 230 to below 15, even as earnings per share climbed around 38%. The newer issue is in the guidance, as a shrinking revenue line could eventually cut earnings too.
$12.26+$0.03 (+0.24%)
NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/19/26
An S&P 500 fund did about as wellThat $40,600 works out to an annual return of around 15% over a bit more than 10 years. But $10,000 put in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY +0.42%) on Sept. 21, 2016, with dividends reinvested, was worth around $41,400 as of Oct. 16 -- a nearly identical return.
The difference was the path. The S&P 500 fund never asked its owner to watch a $463,000 stake shrink to around $40,000, or to ride out two one-day drops of over 30%.
What does this say about holding a fallen growth stock? Mainly that the low entry price made the difference for a first-day holder. A buyer at $3.01 could weather a 91% fall and still quadruple their money.
A buyer at the peak, of course, would need the shares to climb around 11-fold just to break even.
And unlike in 2022, revenue probably won't grow through this slump. Until management's guidance shows growth again, I wouldn't bet on this drop working out the way the 2022 one did.
Společnost The Trade Desk ve druhém čtvrtletí roku 2026 zvýšila tržby meziročně jen o 3 % na 715,1 mil. USD, přestože její likvidita činila 1,49 mld. USD.
Key Takeaways TTD's $1.49B cash reserves as of June 30 and $745M credit availability support strategic investments.Investments in Kokai Zuma's agentic AI & healthcare integrations aim to enhance advertising and measurement.TTD faces macroeconomic pressures and intensifying ad market competition.
The Trade Desk’s (TTD - Free Report) strong liquidity position provides financial flexibility as it invests in artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the advertising platform and expand strategic partnerships. As the digital advertising market becomes increasingly competitive, the company's financial resources could help support innovation and strengthen its position in the programmatic advertising industry.
As of June 30, 2026, The Trade Desk had approximately $1.49 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, comprising $1.12 billion in cash and equivalents and $362.4 million in short-term investments. The company also had approximately $745 million available as of June 30 under its revolving credit facility, providing additional financial flexibility.
The Trade Desk generated $154 million in operating cash flow and $136 million in free cash flow during the second quarter. For the first six months of 2026, operating cash flow reached $545.4 million, compared with $456.4 million in the prior-year period.
The company's financial resources support continued investments in its AI-powered Kokai platform, Audience Unlimited and advanced measurement capabilities. In August, TTD unveiled Kokai Zuma, the latest release of its Kokai platform. Zuma brings new agentic AI capabilities and a simpler measurement framework to improve navigation on the Kokai platform for buyers and focus more closely on business outcomes.
In September, the company expanded its healthcare advertising capabilities through enhanced integrations with Veeva Crossix and IQVIA Digital. This move gives pharmaceutical advertisers access to more granular campaign measurement and enables them to use healthcare-specific insights directly in media optimization and decision-making.
Management is also prioritizing platform efficiency through the transition of critical workloads to owned data centers from third-party cloud providers.
The Trade Desk is also balancing growth investments with shareholder returns. The company used $78 million of cash for share repurchases in the quarter, leaving $269 million worth of stock authorized for future buybacks as of June 30, 2026.
Nevertheless, an abrupt slowdown in revenue growth is concerning. On the last earnings call, The Trade Desk highlighted ongoing pressure in key verticals such as Food & Drink and Home & Garden as CPG brands face geopolitical tensions, inflation and consumer softness. While automotive remains strong, it is also impacted by tariffs. CPG and autos generate about 25% of Trade Desk’s business, increasing exposure to cautious enterprise budgets.
These pressures were visible in the second quarter of 2026, when revenues rose only 3% year over year to $715.1 million. Management's third-quarter guidance calls for revenues of at least $650 million and assumes no meaningful improvement in the macro backdrop.
Rising infrastructure costs and competitive pricing pressures could constrain profitability and future cash generation. Management's emphasis on disciplined capital allocation will therefore be crucial amid intense competition.
Competitive LandscapeWalled gardens like Meta Platforms, Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) and Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) offer fierce competition in this space as they control their inventory and first-party user data, allowing for highly targeted ad campaigns.
While CTV remains a strong revenue driver, this market is also increasingly becoming competitive as smaller players like Magnite (MGNI - Free Report) and PubMatic intensify their efforts.
Alphabet dominates the digital ad space with its online ad platform. The main sources of its ad revenues are Google Search, YouTube ads and Google Network. Alphabet ended the second quarter of 2026 with $242.47 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, while long-term debt stood at $98.17 billion.
Amazon’s DSP platform enables advertisers to plan, activate and measure full-funnel investments. The company is also strengthening its position in CTV and premium video advertising.
Earlier, Amazon announced a partnership with OpenAI to support advertising in ChatGPT, expanding its reach into conversational AI. The new partnership will allow advertisers to expand their Amazon Ads campaigns to ChatGPT, with select advertisers in the U.S. testing the integration.
The company is strengthening its advertising capabilities through AI-powered tools such as Ads Agent, which reduces campaign setup and targeting time. As of June 30, 2026, cash and cash equivalents were $78.2 billion, while the long-term debt totaled $128.9 billion.
Magnite is an independent sell-side advertising company. Its core growth engine, CTV business, continues to deliver strong performance. The company is also expanding its agentic AI capabilities. Earlier in the year, MGNI unveiled Magnite Orchestration, which gained additional omnichannel capabilities and third-party integrations in September. As of June 30, 2026, Magnite had a cash balance of $333 million.
Shares of ad tech company The Trade Desk (TTD -6.86%) trade near $12 as I write, down about 91% from their December 2024 record closing price of $139.51. And shares have kept sliding this year, down about 68% since the end of 2025.
The company's now worth about $5.8 billion, and the stock costs about 14 times its earnings for the last 12 months. For a business whose revenue rose 18% year over year in 2025, that looks cheap. But management now expects revenue to shrink.
Where could the stock realistically be in a bit over three years?
My estimate is around $16 a share by the end of 2029, about 31% above today's price, or a gain of about 9% a year. I think it's a fair middle case. But it hinges on something the company hasn't forecast yet: a return to growth.
Image source: Getty Images.
Shrinking sales, fewer sharesThe Trade Desk is a tech company that runs a demand-side platform (software advertisers use to buy digital ads automatically), and as recently as last year the business looked healthy. Full-year 2025 revenue hit around $2.9 billion, and net income climbed about 13% to $443 million -- a net margin of about 15%.
Growth has since slowed sharply. Second-quarter 2026 revenue rose just 3% year over year to $715 million. Net income dropped around 29% to $64 million, cutting the net margin to 9% from 13% in the year-ago quarter. And management's guidance calls for third-quarter revenue of at least $650 million, which would be a decline of about 12% from the same period in 2025.
Still, one number keeps moving in shareholders' favor. Mainly because of buybacks, the company's diluted share count dropped from around 507 million in late 2024 to 483 million a year later, then to 470 million by this year's second quarter. The Trade Desk repurchased about 10 million shares for about $233 million in the first half of 2026 alone, and it still had about $1.5 billion in cash and short-term investments and no debt at the end of June.
So per-share earnings can arguably rise faster than profits, even if the business recovers slowly.
What would it take to hit $16?Say revenue rebounds to 2025's level of about $2.9 billion by 2027 and then rises about 6% a year. This gets The Trade Desk to about $3.3 billion of revenue in 2029, growth at about a third of the rate it managed in 2025.
If the net margin also returns to the 15% the business had in 2025, net income could be near $490 million in 2029.
Assume buybacks cut the diluted share count to about 450 million, a slower rate of decline than the past 18 months. That works out to about $1.09 of earnings per share.
At 15 times earnings (near the price-to-earnings ratio the stock trades at now), shares would be worth around $16.
Notably, I'm not assuming a higher valuation multiple, just that the company stops shrinking and earns its 2025 net margin again.
$12.23-$0.90 (-6.86%)
NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/16/26
A lot could go wrongThe biggest risk is that revenue doesn't rebound on that schedule. If sales settle around $2.8 billion and the net margin stalls at about 10%, earnings per share could be about $0.61 on 460 million shares. At 12 times earnings, the stock would be worth around $7, or about 40% below its current price.
The share count assumption has its own risk. On Monday, Oct. 19, shareholders vote on a proposal to reprice stock options for up to around 15.6 million shares, or about 3% of the outstanding shares. Exercise prices for these options go up to $122.59, and if the proposal passes, any above that day's closing price would be cut to the close. Options priced near the stock might increase dilution if shares recover, which is the scenario my forecast assumes.
In the end, a gain of around 9% a year would be a decent result from here. But it hinges on a recovery The Trade Desk hasn't guided to, and my bear case drops more than my base case climbs. This prediction doesn't change the take I spelled out last month, when I explained why I'm still not buying the stock.
Until management's revenue forecast points up again, I'd rather not pay even 14 times earnings for the shares. Sure, three years is a long time, and my estimate could miss in either direction.
Společnost The Trade Desk (TTD) za poslední měsíc ztratila 14,98 %; trh očekává čtvrtletní EPS ve výši 0,26 USD a tržby 650,67 milionu USD, což představuje meziroční pokles o 42,22 %, respektive o 12 %.
In the latest trading session, The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) closed at $12.08, marking a +1.32% move from the previous day. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.22%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.66%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.22%.
The stock of digital-advertising platform operator has fallen by 14.98% in the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 6.54% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.4%.
The upcoming earnings release of The Trade Desk will be of great interest to investors. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.26, marking a 42.22% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $650.67 million, indicating a 12% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $1.22 per share and revenue of $2.84 billion, indicating changes of -31.07% and -1.98%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for The Trade Desk. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. The Trade Desk presently features a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
In the context of valuation, The Trade Desk is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 9.75. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.33, so one might conclude that The Trade Desk is trading at a discount comparatively.
We can also see that TTD currently has a PEG ratio of 0.55. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Internet - Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.82 as of yesterday's close.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 191, which puts it in the bottom 23% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.
Akcie The Trade Desk v září klesly o 11 % poté, co firma oznámila restrukturalizaci, v jejímž rámci sníží počet zaměstnanců přibližně o 15 %, a vyřazení z indexu S&P 500.
The Trade Desk (TTD -0.50%) was the wrong kind of busy in September. The next-generation adtech company didn't look like a business primed for the future after announcing a restructuring plan, witnessing a rival score a high-profile client, and being booted from a major stock index, among other setbacks.
Last month was a blustery one full of headwinds for The Trade Desk, so perhaps it's lucky to have exited September with "only" an 11% decline in its share price. Yet I think it could go lower. Before we get to that, however, let's recap the company's not-so-good month.
Image source: Getty Images.
Restructurings and roadblocksSeptember didn't start on an encouraging note for The Trade Desk. Numerous media outlets, citing a company statement, reported that it planned to cut its workforce by roughly 15% as part of a broader restructuring effort. The company effectively confirmed this in a regulatory filing, in which it estimated that such moves would result in charges of around $39 million to $51 million, offset by a reversal of approximately $4 million to $5 million in stock-based compensation. There was clearly some urgency to this for The Trade Desk, as it expressed a desire to complete the process by the beginning of the third quarter (i.e., the start of October).
Also, early in the month, The Trade Desk was removed from the benchmark S&P 500 index. In a quarterly rebalancing by the index's operator, S&P Dow Jones Indices, the company's stock was shifted to the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. Such was the effect of a shrinking price and, therefore, market cap, on the beaten-down stock.
As if these body blows weren't enough, its rival Amazon (AMZN +1.95%) Ads announced a new advertising partnership with top artificial intelligence (AI) developer OpenAI. Under its terms, Amazon Ads clients will have the option to expand their campaigns into conversational experiences using OpenAI's ChatGPT model. Amazon added that select advertisers, which it did not name, were testing this service in a pilot program.
Finally, at the end of the month, industry website Ad Exchanger published a story stating that The Trade Desk was unable to serve ads to Apple's (AAPL +0.22%) Safari browser in certain instances. The problem, apparently, was the tech company's iOS 27, the latest iteration of its operating system. Ad Exchanger said Apple was investigating the issue. As of this writing, the situation had not been resolved.
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Moneyball Superscore
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A September not to rememberThe Trade Desk has shown resiliency in the past, so I wouldn't underestimate its ability to rebound. Yet that seemingly urgent restructuring project indicates a company scrambling to avoid trouble, and Amazon Ads looks like it might be a tough competitor with abundant resources. It doesn't feel to me like The Trade Desk has a sufficient moat, so it's vulnerable. I believe we might not be seeing the bottom for this stock yet.
The Trade Desk v posledním obchodním dni klesl o 1,98 % na 12,35 USD, tedy méně než S&P 500, který oslabil o 0,77 %. Analytici čekají EPS 0,27 USD, což je meziroční pokles o 40 %.
In the latest close session, The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) was down 1.98% at $12.35. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.77%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.67%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.92%.
Shares of the digital-advertising platform operator have depreciated by 7.15% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 6.26%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.96%.
The upcoming earnings release of The Trade Desk will be of great interest to investors. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.27, indicating a 40% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $650.67 million, indicating a 12% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $1.22 per share and a revenue of $2.84 billion, demonstrating changes of -31.07% and -1.98%, respectively, from the preceding year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for The Trade Desk. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 3.29% lower within the past month. The Trade Desk presently features a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
With respect to valuation, The Trade Desk is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.37. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 15.58, which means The Trade Desk is trading at a discount to the group.
It's also important to note that TTD currently trades at a PEG ratio of 0.59. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Internet - Services industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.62.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 182, placing it within the bottom 27% of over 250 industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
The Trade Desk získá přes OpenPath přístup k ověřenému HCP inventáři OptimizeRx v rámci přes 400 EHR a e-prescribing systémů. Inventář má být dostupný ve 4. čtvrtletí 2026.
Key Takeaways TTD will offer authenticated HCP inventory from OptimizeRx across 400 EHR and e-prescribing systems.OPRX inventory will reach TTD advertisers via OpenPath in the fourth quarter of 2026.The integration adds HCP inventory to TTD's healthcare data, measurement and programmatic capabilities. The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) is strengthening its position in the healthcare advertising market through a new integration with OptimizeRx (OPRX - Free Report) , giving advertisers direct access to authenticated healthcare professional (HCP) inventory through TTD’s OpenPath supply-path optimization platform. The initiative gives advertisers using The Trade Desk direct access to OptimizeRx’s authenticated point-of-care inventory across more than 400 electronic health record and e-prescribing systems, reaching approximately 800,000 verified HCPs. The inventory is expected to reach TTD advertisers via OpenPath in the fourth quarter of 2026.
TTD has built a large demand-side platform that allows advertisers and agencies to purchase digital advertising inventory using data-driven targeting and measurement capabilities. OpenPath is designed to improve the connection between advertisers and premium publishers by reducing unnecessary intermediaries in the advertising supply chain. Through The Trade Desk, life sciences advertisers can incorporate OptimizeRx’s point-of-care placements alongside other digital advertising investments. This could simplify media planning and let marketers coordinate HCP-focused campaigns with broader programmatic strategies.
The partnership comes as TTD is expanding its healthcare capabilities in addition to providing media inventory. The company recently announced expanded integrations with Veeva Crossix and IQVIA Digital that allow pharmaceutical advertisers to use more granular healthcare measurement and optimization signals within TTD's platform. The OPRX deal is likely to strengthen TTD’s healthcare offering by adding authenticated HCP inventory, complementing its healthcare data, measurement and programmatic capabilities. This could make TTD more attractive to pharma and life sciences advertisers.
If the integration attracts new pharmaceutical advertisers and encourages existing TTD customers to allocate more of their budgets toward authenticated HCP and point-of-care media, OPRX could become another avenue for TTD to capture a greater share of healthcare programmatic advertising.
How TTD Stacks Up Against Market Peers?Strong CTV and DV+ demand drive Magnite’s (MGNI - Free Report) growth. It is seeing broader adoption of programmatic advertising, particularly among premium accounts, while international expansion is providing another growth driver as global streamers rely on programmatic channels to reach new markets. Recently, MGNI announced the launch of its first agentic campaign in EMEA with trading desk Amnet France, highlighting how agentic buying can improve the performance and efficiency of premium CTV campaigns. Magnite also expanded partnerships with major global brands, including Walmart, Samsung, Roku, Viasat, AMC and Dentsu, strengthening its CTV and omnichannel capabilities through automated buying, data-driven targeting and broader programmatic access.
PubMatic, Inc.’s (PUBM - Free Report) disciplined investments have diversified its business, with CTV, mobile app and emerging revenues. In the second quarter, CTV, mobile app and emerging streams accounted for about 60% of revenue and grew nearly 40% year over year. CTV revenue rose 13%, led by 25% growth in the Americas, while mobile app revenue jumped more than 40%, driven by mediation integrations, product innovation and a growing global publisher base. Direct buying on Activate more than doubled globally year over year. In June, PUBM launched its first agentic advertising campaign in Spain with Havas and Movistar, marking a key step in European programmatic CTV adoption.
TTD’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of TTD have declined 71.9% in the past year against the Zacks Internet Services industry and S&P 500 composites’ rise of 34.1% and 17.5%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, TTD trades at a forward price-to-earnings of 27.89X, higher than the industry’s average of 21.29X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings has been revised downward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Trade Desk (TTD -2.38%) is getting smaller. Earlier this month, the advertising technology company said it will cut about 15% of its workforce, a reduction it expects to substantially complete this quarter.
The announcement came about a month after management guided for third-quarter revenue of at least $650 million -- down about 12% from the $739 million the company generated in the same quarter last year.
The stock, meanwhile, trades around $14 as of this writing, about 90% below the record it set in December 2024. The slide runs deep enough that Monday's quarterly index rebalance moves the stock out of the S&P 500 and down to the S&P SmallCap 600. A decline that steep can pull in bargain hunters, and I understand the temptation. After all, the company holds about $1.5 billion in cash and short-term investments, and its customers keep renewing.
But I'm still not buying. Here's a closer look at why the price alone doesn't make the case, and what would.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
The forecast keeps stepping downThe forecast is the part I keep coming back to. As recently as the third quarter of 2025, The Trade Desk grew revenue 18% year over year to $739 million. Growth slowed to 14% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and to 12% in the first quarter of 2026. In the second quarter, revenue rose just 3% year over year to $715 million. And the current guidance calls for a decline of about 12% -- each step lower than the one before it.
Profits are decelerating even faster. Management guided for about $160 million of non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in the third quarter, down from $317 million a year earlier.
And second-quarter net income fell about 29% year over year to $64 million.
Management isn't promising a quick fix, either. Chief financial officer Nate Olmstead said on the company's second-quarter earnings call in August that "visibility is somewhat more limited than it has been in recent history," and the guidance assumes no meaningful improvement in the advertising environment.
Cost cuts don't fix demandThe September layoffs address the profit side of that picture. The Trade Desk expects $39 million to $51 million in cash charges for severance and related costs, and a leaner cost structure should help margins while revenue falls.
What the cuts can't do is bring back ad spending.
CEO Jeff Green said on the same call that consumer packaged goods and auto advertisers (about 25% of The Trade Desk's business) have been hurt by tariffs and oil prices, and that the company's own execution fell short.
Competition adds pressure from the other side. The Trade Desk remains the largest independent demand-side platform (the software advertisers use to buy ads across the internet in an automated way). But big advertisers have reportedly been spreading more of their budgets across rival platforms, including the one Amazon runs.
Cheap against what?On the numbers already in the books, the stock looks inexpensive.
At around $14, The Trade Desk carries a market capitalization of about $6.6 billion: a little more than 2 times its trailing-12-month sales, for a company that was growing 18% a year ago. Back out the cash, and the market values the business itself at a little over $5 billion. The company also generated $419 million of free cash flow in the first half of 2026.
However, all of those figures describe what the business has already done, not what it's guiding toward. Guidance calls for shrinking revenue and for adjusted EBITDA to fall roughly in half, and free cash flow will likely follow profits lower. In other words, the stock is more expensive than it looks.
Notably, customer retention stayed above 95% in the second quarter, as it has for more than a decade. Customers aren't leaving the platform. They're spending more carefully on it. That retention record is arguably the strongest thing the company has going for it.
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Moneyball Superscore
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What would a turnaround have to show?
I'd want revenue guidance that points up instead of down, evidence that the pressure on consumer packaged goods and auto advertisers is easing, and margins that hold because demand recovered -- not just because the workforce got smaller.
Ultimately, The Trade Desk has the cash and the customer base to work with, and the business could stabilize from here. But a stock that has fallen about 90% isn't automatically a bargain, just a lower price on a business whose own forecast is still shrinking.
I'm not buying at about $14. And until the forecast turns, I'd rather watch from the sidelines.
The Trade Desk rozšiřuje zdravotnickou reklamu díky integracím s Veeva Crossix a IQVIA Digital. Inzerenti z farmacie získají detailnější měření kampaní včetně Audience Quality a NBRx.
Key Takeaways TTD expands healthcare ad capabilities through enhanced Veeva Crossix and IQVIA integrations.Crossix and IQVIA add granular measurement, including Audience Quality and NBRx metrics.TTD's multi-provider healthcare decisioning can extend NPI reach while improving campaign efficiency. The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) is expanding its healthcare advertising capabilities through enhanced integrations with Veeva Crossix and IQVIA Digital . The move gives pharmaceutical advertisers access to more granular campaign measurement and enables them to use healthcare-specific insights directly in media optimization and decision-making.
Pharmaceutical advertisers require sophisticated measurement because campaign success can extend well beyond conventional digital advertising metrics. TTD’s expanded integrations are designed to connect media exposure with more specific healthcare outcomes and enable advertisers to act on those insights while campaigns are still running. Crossix enables optimization toward Audience Quality and cost per target reach, with NBRx metrics and weighted KPIs expected in the fourth quarter. IQVIA will also add more granular Audience Quality measurement by site, geography and device type, along with NBRx measurement.
The latest integrations align with TTD’s broader effort to expand its presence in specialized advertising verticals and to strengthen its data and decisioning capabilities. Its support for multi-provider healthcare professional decisioning further expands this opportunity. This capability enables advertisers to extend NPI reach across multiple providers, potentially increasing campaign scale while improving efficiency. By combining AI-powered media decisioning with independent healthcare measurement providers, TTD is positioning its platform as a more comprehensive solution for pharmaceutical advertisers.
However, the opportunity will depend on adoption. The benefits of these capabilities ultimately need to translate into increased spending, stronger advertiser retention and greater campaign activity on TTD’s platform. Competition across advertising technology remains intense, with other platforms such as Magnite (MGNI - Free Report) and PubMatic, Inc. (PUBM - Free Report) also investing in AI-powered optimization, data integration and vertical-specific solutions.
Intense Competition Impeding TTD’s OpportunityMagnite’s growth is driven by strong CTV and DV+ demand. It is seeing broader adoption of programmatic advertising, particularly among premium accounts, while international expansion is providing another growth driver as global streamers rely on programmatic channels to reach new markets. Recently, MGNI announced the launch of its first agentic campaign in EMEA with trading desk Amnet France, highlighting how agentic buying can improve the performance and efficiency of premium CTV campaigns. Magnite also expanded partnerships with major global brands, including Walmart, Samsung, Roku, Viasat, AMC and Dentsu, strengthening its CTV and omnichannel capabilities through automated buying, data-driven targeting and broader programmatic access.
PubMatic's disciplined investments have diversified its business, with CTV, mobile app and emerging revenues. In the second quarter, CTV, mobile app and emerging streams accounted for about 60% of revenue and grew nearly 40% year over year. CTV revenue rose 13%, led by 25% growth in the Americas, while mobile app revenue jumped more than 40%, driven by mediation integrations, product innovation and a growing global publisher base. Direct buying on Activate more than doubled globally year over year. In June, PUBM launched its first agentic advertising campaign in Spain with Havas and Movistar, marking a key step in European programmatic CTV adoption.
TTD’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of TTD have declined 67% in the past year against the Zacks Internet Services industry and S&P 500 composites’ rise of 32.8% and 15.9%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, TTD trades at a forward price-to-earnings of 31.71X, higher than the industry’s average of 20.68X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings has been revised downward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Trade Desk hlásí silný růst na zahraničních trzích: EMEA i APAC letos rostou téměř o 30 % a tržby z CTV v obou regionech ve 2. čtvrtletí meziročně vzrostly o více než 50 %.
Key Takeaways The Trade Desk sees strong international momentum as EMEA and APAC each grow nearly 30% year to date.CTV revenue grew more than 50% year over year in both EMEA and APAC during the second quarter.China surged more than 100%, while international markets contributed 17% of second-quarter revenue. The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) has strengthened its footprint in the rapidly expanding programmatic advertising market, but its next phase of growth could increasingly depend on opportunities outside the United States. As digital advertising becomes more sophisticated across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia-Pacific (APAC), TTD’s international expansion offers a potentially significant growth runway. Its footprint spans more than 35 markets and is supported by global partnerships and localized engineering resources, enabling the company to provide clients with deep expertise across regional advertising markets.
The majority of The Trade Desk’s top 100 accounts are growing at double-digit rates year over year. Moreover, advertisers outside the top 500 are delivering more than 50% year-to-date growth, highlighting strong momentum among smaller, emerging and challenger brands. Geographically, EMEA and APAC have each grown nearly 30% year to date, while China has surged more than 100%. Its retail media footprint now spans retailers representing more than 80% of U.S. retail sales, including Walmart, while its global investments are opening new opportunities as brands increasingly adopt data-driven advertising across Europe and APAC.
The Trade Desk's second-quarter revenue rose 3% year over year to $715 million. Geographically, the U.S accounted for about 83% of revenue, while international markets contributed 17%. Continued investments in EMEA and APAC are driving strong momentum, with CTV revenue growing more than 50% year over year in both regions during the quarter.
TTD’s international expansion is poised to be a long-term growth driver. EMEA provides a combination of digital advertising markets and emerging economies, while APAC offers enormous populations, rising digital consumption and expanding advertising budgets. CTV could accelerate TTD's international opportunity as streaming and addressable television gain traction.
Competition Remains a Major Risk for TTDMagnite’s (MGNI - Free Report) growth is driven by strong CTV and DV+ demand. It is seeing broader adoption of programmatic advertising, particularly among premium accounts, while international expansion is providing another growth driver as global streamers rely on programmatic channels to reach new markets. Recently, MGNI announced the launch of its first agentic campaign in EMEA with trading desk Amnet France, highlighting how agentic buying can improve the performance and efficiency of premium CTV campaigns. Magnite also expanded partnerships with major global brands, including Walmart, Samsung, Roku, Viasat, AMC and Dentsu, strengthening its CTV and omnichannel capabilities through automated buying, data-driven targeting and broader programmatic access.
PubMatic, Inc.’s (PUBM - Free Report) disciplined investments have diversified its business, with CTV, mobile app and emerging revenues. In the second quarter, CTV, mobile app and emerging streams accounted for about 60% of revenue and grew nearly 40% year over year. CTV revenue rose 13%, led by 25% growth in the Americas, while mobile app revenue jumped more than 40%, driven by mediation integrations, product innovation and a growing global publisher base. Direct buying on Activate more than doubled globally year over year. In June, PUBM launched its first agentic advertising campaign in Spain with Havas and Movistar, marking a key step in European programmatic CTV adoption.
TTD’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of TTD have declined 47.4% in the past six months against the Zacks Internet Services industry and S&P 500 composites’ rise of 9.5% and 13.3%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, TTD trades at a forward price-to-earnings of 27.89X, higher than the industry’s average of 19.97X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings has been revised downward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Key Takeaways TTD's shares are down 60.3% YTD as second-quarter revenue growth slowed to just 3%.Weak ad demand across key categories, competition and rising costs are pressuring TTD's near-term outlook.CTV, retail media, international growth and AI tools remain key long-term growth drivers for TTD. The Trade Desk, Inc. (TTD - Free Report) has had a difficult run in 2026, with shares plunging roughly 60.3% year to date (“YTD”). The sharp decline reflects mounting investor concerns over slowing revenue growth, softer advertising demand across some key customer categories and company-specific execution issues.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The concerns intensified following the company’s second-quarter 2026 performance. Revenues increased just 3% year over year to $715 million. Management acknowledged that revenue growth fell short of its expectations, attributing the weakness to a combination of macroeconomic pressure and shortcomings in its own execution.
As investors look ahead, the focus remains on TTD’s ability to drive growth, defend share against deep-pocketed rivals and translate secular connected TV (“CTV”) momentum into accelerating earnings leverage.
Given these factors, let’s examine closely to understand what TTD’s slump represents for investors.
Near-Term Challenges Cloud TTD’s OutlookThe abrupt slowdown in revenue growth is concerning. Second-quarter revenue growth was a mere 3% compared with 12% in the first quarter of 2026.
Trade Desk highlighted ongoing pressure in key verticals such as Food & Drink and Home & Garden as consumer-packaged goods (“CPG”) brands face geopolitical uncertainty, input inflation and consumer softness. While automotive is an “area of strength overall”, it is also impacted by tariffs, management added. CPG and autos together account for about 25% of TTD’s business, increasing exposure to cautious enterprise budgets.
Management highlighted that the economic uncertainty is putting pressure on lower-income consumers, prompting advertisers to prioritize cheaper media alternatives. The company also admitted execution gaps contributed to the underperformance.
Near-term visibility remains challenging as management's third-quarter guidance assumes no meaningful improvement in the macro backdrop. For the third quarter, management expects revenues of at least $650 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $160 million.
Rising expenses coupled with investments could compress margins if revenue growth slows. In the last reported quarter, total operating costs (excluding stock-based compensation) surged 12% year sover year to $504 million. Expenses soared due to continued investments in enhancing platform capabilities, particularly in more AI-powered tools. Adjusted EBITDA declined 11% year over year to $241.3 million and the adjusted EBITDA margin contracted to 34% from 39%.
Further, the competitive environment is intensifying. Walled gardens like Meta Platforms, Apple, Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) and Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) offer fierce competition in this space as they control their inventory and first-party user data, allowing for highly targeted ad campaigns. While CTV remains a strong revenue driver, this market is also increasingly becoming competitive as smaller players like Magnite and PubMatic (PUBM - Free Report) intensify their efforts. AMZN’s expanding DSP business is giving tough competition to TTD, especially in this space.
Reflecting these concerns, analysts have significantly revised earnings estimates down for the current year.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
However, management noted that the weakness is largely cyclical and concentrated among a handful of large customers.
TTD’s Long-Term Growth Story Is Not Broken YetDespite the near-term challenges, TTD has several encouraging trends that could drive its long-term growth prospects.
Increasing digital spending in CTV, particularly for premium content and live sports, is a key growth driver. In the second quarter, video — which includes CTV — represented a low-50s percentage share of the total business. The shift from linear TV to CTV is still in early stages, providing a long runway for growth. CTV revenues in both EMEA and APAC increased more than 50% year over year, showing that adoption is broadening beyond the United States.
International expansion also provides considerable runway. Management stated that EMEA and APAC revenues have grown almost 30% year to date, while China has expanded more than 100%. These trends are encouraging as they widen Trade Desk’s growth base beyond the U.S. market, which still accounted for approximately 83% of second-quarter revenues.
Beyond CTV, retail media has emerged as one of the fastest-growing areas in the digital advertising space. Trade Desk highlighted that participating retailers represented more than 80% of U.S. retail sales. The company also renewed its partnership with Walmart.
Trade Desk’s deeper relationships with major advertisers represent another positive. The company had 217 clients with Joint Business Plans (JBPs) in the second quarter, up 38% year over year. Management noted that revenues under those plans grew at six times the company’s overall revenue growth rate.
Management described JBPs as “much more than commercial agreements”, emphasizing that they provide a structured framework through which brands, agencies and Trade Desk can jointly plan, innovate and measure success. Management believes this longer-term alignment is helping JBP customers grow faster than the rest of the business.
Trade Desk is leaning into AI and measurement that tie media to outcomes. TTD recently unveiled Kokai Zuma, the latest release of its Kokai platform. Zuma brings new agentic AI capabilities and a simpler measurement framework to improve navigation on the Kokai platform for buyers and focus more closely on business outcomes. TTD said that the latest enhancements to Kokai have generated an average 32% improvement in cost-per-acquisition (“CPA”) performance in initial results.
What to Make of TTD’s Discounted Valuation?TTD’s shares are trading at a forward price/earnings multiple of 12.35X, way lower than the Internet Services industry’s ratio of 20.16X. This valuation compression appears to reflect near-term concerns, including macroeconomic uncertainty, softer ad spend in certain verticals and a slowdown in revenue growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
AMZN, PUBM and GOOGL trade at 22.75X, 22.81X and 20.62X, respectively.
GOOGL, PUBM and AMZN’s shares are up 9.4%, 91.2% and 12.1%, respectively, year to date.
What Should Investors Do With TTD Stock?Trade Desk's exposure to CTV, retail media, AI-driven decisioning and the open Internet provides substantial long-term opportunities. However, weak revenue growth, a soft third-quarter outlook, limited near-term visibility, pressure among important advertising categories and higher operating expenses are concerning.
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Investors would be better off waiting for clearer evidence of improving execution and meaningful revenue contributions from newer initiatives like Kokai Zuma and Audience Unlimited before turning constructive on the stock.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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Jeff Green's The Trade Desk is laying off 15% of its staff. Greg Doherty/Variety via Getty Images Adtech company The Trade Desk is downsizing.
In a note late Thursday, The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green informed staff it was laying off 15% of its head count.
In the announcement, which was also published on The Trade Desk's news site, The Current, Green said the aim was to restructure the company into "smaller pods and smaller scrums, but with greater focus."
The company said in a February financial filing that it had 3,843 full-time employees as of December 31, 2025, meaning the restructure is estimated to affect more than 500 staffers.
The news comes on the heels of the company reporting disappointing quarterly performance last month. Revenue grew by just 3% year-on-year, and it missed Wall Street expectations on earnings. Green said at the time the company "did not meet the standard we set for ourselves" and that it was taking actions to strengthen its execution, upgrade its platform, and sharpen its focus.
The Trade Desk declined to provide further comment on the layoffs.
It's been a rocky period for The Trade Desk. Its shares have dropped by around 70% over the past year, and fallen nearly 90% from its late-2024 peak.
The company has experienced a high rate of executive turnover, including the recent departures of its chief finance officer, chief revenue officer, chief strategy officer, chief marketing officer, and four members of its board. It has hired replacements for its CFO and CMO, as well as a chief commercial officer and two new board members.
It also entered a high-profile dispute with one of its large customers, Publicis Groupe. In March, the French advertising group told clients it was no longer recommending The Trade Desk, following an independent audit into its fees. The companies issued a joint statement in June saying they had settled their differences.
"In the context of being one of the worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 for two years running, losing its entire C-level management team, and with expectations of 15% sales declines in 2H26, the head count cuts are no surprise," said Richard Kramer, an analyst at Arete Research.
There had been signs that The Trade Desk could be preparing to cut its ranks. On Thursday, analysts at Evercore ISI published a note recapping the firm's "Rally in the Valley" bus tour. The analysts wrote that The Trade Desk's head of investor relations, Chris Roth, had said the company had "never significantly pared back its cost structure" and that there were likely "significant opportunities to address."
In his statement on Thursday, Green said the company was healthy, adding that it had about $1.5 billion of cash and no debt on its balance sheet.
"Our aim is to position The Trade Desk team to move with greater agility, focus, ownership, and speed," Green said.
The Trade Desk was once one of independent adtech's biggest success stories. The company, which offers a demand-side platform that helps advertisers automate and target their ad buys across websites, apps, and TV, soared in value after its 2016 initial public offering.
In recent years, it has faced some product adoption hiccups and intense competition, particularly from Amazon, which embarked on a yearslong effort to improve its own DSP and take share from The Trade Desk and Google. This year, The Trade Desk, spearheaded by Green, has adopted a combative tone in its communications, targeting the media, Wall Street, and industry players who have questioned its strategy.
Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company's former senior director of financial planning and analysis with insider trading, while federal prosecutors separately charged him with securities fraud. They alleged he made more than $338,000 in profits from trading The Trade Desk's stock using material nonpublic information he learned through his employment at the company.
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Lara O'Reilly You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Lara O'Reilly is the anchor of the CMO Insider newsletter.She is a chief correspondent who has covered the digital advertising, marketing, and media industries since 2010. Her current beat includes big tech companies like Alphabet and Meta, adtech firms, agencies, publishers, the creator economy, and CMOs.Lara has previously worked as a reporter and executive producer at titles including The Wall Street Journal, Digiday, Yahoo Finance, and Marketing Week. She was previously Business Insider's senior global advertising editor from 2014 to 2017.Lara is a regular guest on TV and radio and has appeared on outlets such as the BBC, NPR, SiriusXM's Wharton Business Daily, and CTV Television Network. She also frequently speaks on stage at major events such as Web Summit, IFA, VivaTech, Advertising Week, and Cannes Lions.To get in touch with Lara O'Reilly, email [email protected] or contact her on Signal at @loreilly.71
The Trade Desk v srpnu klesl o 24 % po slabých výsledcích za 2. čtvrtletí. Tržby vzrostly jen o 3 % na 715,1 mil. USD a upravený EPS spadl na 0,34 USD.
Shares of The Trade Desk (TTD +0.44%) were heading lower again last month as the demand-side adtech platform (DSP) again disappointed investors in its second-quarter earnings report.
The company, the leading independent DSP, posted another round of slowing revenue growth and falling profits, as it seems to be losing market share to so-called "walled gardens" like Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Amazon.
According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, The Trade Desk finished the month down 24%. As you can see from the chart below, the stock plunged early in the month after the report came out, and stayed down from there.
TTD data by YCharts
The Trade Desk's struggles continue In less than two years, The Trade Desk has lost roughly 90% of its value, an epic collapse of a company that was once considered a top growth stock.
In the second-quarter report, The Trade Desk reported the slowest revenue growth in its history outside the pandemic, at just 3% to $715.1 million, well below the consensus of $751.6 million.
The adtech firm also came up short on the bottom line, reporting adjusted earnings per share of $0.34, down from $0.41 and below estimates of $0.40. CEO Jeff Green acknowledged that the "quarter did not meet the standard we set for ourselves." He pointed to weak spending in key verticals like consumer packaged goods and automotive, though digital advertising leaders like Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Amazon all delivered strong revenue growth, showing the digital advertising environment remains healthy.
Image source: Getty Images.
What's next for The Trade Desk The Trade Desk's third-quarter outlook was also disappointing, calling for a sharp sequential decline in revenue to at least $650 million, down 12% from a year ago.
Unsurprisingly, several Wall Street analysts downgraded the stock on the news, noting both macro and internal challenges, and the general sentiment seems to be that any recovery will take time.
Green seems to be trying to persuade investors that an odd combination of industry forces is hurting the company, but that doesn't seem believable. Additionally, The Trade Desk doesn't seem to have any sort of turnaround plan.
If the business is truly on its way to double-digit declines, then it's time for a bigger pivot. As the founder, Green is unlikely to be pushed out, but the company could be on a slow path toward irrelevance without a significant change.
Jeremy Bowman has positions in Amazon, Meta Platforms, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The Trade Desk integruje data Gracenote do své CTV platformy, aby inzerentům nabídla přesnější cílení a větší transparentnost při nákupu inventáře. Výnosy ve 2. čtvrtletí dosáhly 715 milionů USD, meziročně o 3 % více.
Key Takeaways The Trade Desk is integrating Gracenote's content metadata and taxonomy into its CTV buying platform.Advertisers can use detailed programming data with TTD's other signals to build curated inventory strategies.CTV growth topped 50% year over year in EMEA and APAC, while video was a low-50% share of TTD's business. The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) is strengthening its connected TV (CTV) advertising proposition through a new partnership with Gracenote, Nielsen’s content intelligence business. The collaboration brings Gracenote’s program-level content metadata, identifiers and standardized taxonomy directly into TTD’s demand-side platform (DSP), potentially giving advertisers much greater precision and transparency when buying CTV inventory.
Gracenote provides content IDs, metadata and standardized taxonomy that can help identify and categorize programming more consistently. Through the integration, advertisers using The Trade Desk will be able to incorporate this information into their CTV buying strategies. Advertisers could use more detailed programming characteristics to develop a curated inventory strategy, creating a more contextual approach to CTV advertising. Advertisers can also combine Gracenote's programming information with other signals available through TTD.
For The Trade Desk, the partnership strengthens its position in the increasingly competitive CTV advertising market. The company already provides advertisers with extensive capabilities for programmatic buying. By incorporating standardized show-level information, TTD can give buyers another signal to use when evaluating inventory. That could make its platform more attractive to advertisers seeking television-like contextual precision in a programmatic buying environment.
Total revenue reached $715 million in the second quarter, up 3% year over year. Double-digit growth in CTV and audio continued in the second quarter, with video including CTV—representing a low-50% share of TTD’s business. Moreover, TTD’s investments in EMEA and APAC are paying off, with CTV growth exceeding 50% year over year in both regions during the quarter.
Could CTV Growth Strengthen TTD’s Competitive Position?PubMatic, Inc.’s (PUBM - Free Report) disciplined investments have diversified its business, with CTV, mobile app and emerging revenues making up about 60% of second-quarter sales and driving profitable double-digit growth. CTV growth was led by the Americas, up 25% year over year, while global CTV revenue rose 13% and accounted for about 20% of total revenue in the quarter. Its growth in CTV and mobile apps is strengthening its data signals, while its AI-native infrastructure and NVIDIA partnership enable smarter, real-time ad decisioning. Driven by CTV, mobile app and emerging revenues, third-quarter revenue is guided at $75 million–$77 million.
Magnite, Inc.’s (MGNI - Free Report) growth is driven by strong CTV and DV+ demand, with contribution ex-TAC from CTV up 36% year over year and accounting for 51% of total contribution ex-TAC in the second quarter. Growth accelerated across major media owners, while top 10 CTV accounts grew in the mid-to-high 40% range, highlighting strong momentum as programmatic becomes a preferred way to buy streaming TV. SpringServe remains central to MGNI’s CTV strategy, powering monetization beyond its original role as an ad server. SpringServe scored a major win with Samsung, powering premium smart TV home-screen ads and bringing the inventory to programmatic buying through MGNI’s DSP ecosystem.
TTD’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of TTD have declined 29.7% in the past month against the Zacks Internet Services industry and S&P 500 composites’ rise of 1.6% and 5.4%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD seems attractive, as suggested by the Value Score of B. From a valuation standpoint, TTD trades at a forward price-to-earnings of 26.78X, higher than the industry’s average of 20.32X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings has been revised downward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Trade Desk představuje Kokai Zuma s agentní AI a uvádí průměrné zlepšení CPA o 32 % v počátečních výsledcích. Pro 3. čtvrtletí čeká výnosy alespoň 650 milionů USD a upravenou EBITDA kolem 160 milionů USD.
Key Takeaways The Trade Desk launched Kokai Zuma with agentic AI, upgraded forecasting and simpler measurement.TTD said Kokai ZUMA enhancements delivered an average 32% improvement in CPA performance in initial resultsTTD expects Q3 revenues of at least $650 million and adjusted EBITDA of about $160 million. The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) recently unveiled Kokai Zuma, the latest release of its Kokai platform, as the ad-tech company steps up investments in artificial intelligence (AI), campaign automation and measurement. Kokai platform aids in planning, buying and measuring advertising across the open internet.
Zuma brings new agentic AI capabilities and a simpler measurement framework to improve navigation on the Kokai platform for buyers and focus more closely on business outcomes. Zuma also builds on the platform’s AI forecasting engine and infrastructure, spanning available inventory prediction, model campaign outcomes, and powering Koa's agentic capabilities in real time.
The Trade Desk said that the latest enhancements to Kokai have generated an average 32% improvement in cost-per-acquisition (“CPA”) performance in initial results. The release also brings Conversion Lift enhancements, improved reporting, a more flexible Report Builder and workflow upgrades such as refreshed page designs, Applied Settings View and bulk editing functionality.
The launch is consistent with priorities outlined during TTD's second-quarter 2026 earnings call. Management identified the Kokai upgrade as an initiative to streamline navigation, workflows, and troubleshooting while enhancing user experience.
While these initiatives provide potential growth catalysts, weaker visibility, macroeconomic pressures and execution issues suggest that TTD's near-term growth trajectory remains challenging. Revenues increased just 3% year over year to $715 million in the second quarter.
The Trade Desk highlighted ongoing pressure in key verticals such as Food & Drink and Home & Garden as consumer-packaged goods (“CPG”) brands face geopolitical tensions, inflation and consumer softness. While automotive is an “area of strength overall”, it is also impacted by tariffs, added management. CPG and autos together account for about 25% of platform spend, increasing exposure to cautious enterprise budgets.
Near-term visibility remains challenging as management's third-quarter guidance assumes no meaningful improvement in the macro backdrop. For the third quarter, management expects revenues of at least $650 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $160 million.
Compounding the issues is the intensifying competition in the ad tech space from the likes of walled gardens like Amazon, Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) and smaller rivals like Magnite (MGNI - Free Report) .
Mapping the Competitive TerrainAlphabet dominates the digital ad space with its online ad platform. In the second quarter, total advertising revenues increased 14% year over year, with Search and Other revenues rising 17% and YouTube advertising revenues advancing 13%.
GOOGL is stepping up AI integration across the board amid intensifying competition. The launch of AI Overviews and AI Mode is driving growth in overall search queries. Its AI Max platform has already been adopted by roughly 500,000 advertisers. Management noted that advertisers using AI-powered campaigns such as AI Max or PMax are generating an average 15% more conversions or value on Search at a similar return on ad spend.
Magnite is also expanding its agentic AI capabilities. It recently unveiled Magnite Orchestration and believes the platform can become an infrastructure layer for agentic advertising. Its existing AI suite includes seller agents that create inventory and audience packages and buyer agents that generate custom media plans and activate and discover audience opportunities. Disney Advertising, Publicis Media Exchange, Dentsu and DIRECTV are among the companies working with various components of MGNI’s AI portfolio.
Magnite is entering this transition with strong momentum, with its CTV business continuing to deliver strong performance. Second-quarter 2026 CTV contribution ex-TAC of $97 million was up 36% year over year, now accounting for 51% of total contribution ex-TAC.
TTD Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of TTD have plunged 29.7% in the past month, while the Zacks Internet – Services industry has inched up 1.6%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of forward price/earnings, TTD’s shares are trading at 10.98X, lower than the Internet Services industry’s ratio of 20.32X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings for 2026 has been significantly revised downward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Trade Desk Inc (NASDAQ:TTD) shares are trading lower in Monday’s after-hours session after the company filed a prospectus for a mixed shelf offering.
Trade Desk stock is showing downward bias. What’s ahead for TTD stock? The Trade Desk Files For OfferingThe Trade Desk filed with the SEC on Monday to potentially offer and sell common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants or units from time to time in one or more offerings.
Terms and size of the offering were not disclosed. A prospectus supplement would need to be filed each time the company or any selling stockholders decides to offer and sell any securities.
The Trade Desk had approximately $1.12 billion in total cash and cash equivalents as of June 30.
TTD Shares Move LowerTTD Price Action: The Trade Desk shares were down 2.13% in after-hours, trading at $12.99 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro. The stock is down approximately 65% year-to-date and is trading near 52-week lows of $12.83 reached in early August.
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The Trade Desk rozšiřuje zaměření na střední trh; inzerenti mimo top 500 letos meziročně vzrostli o více než 50 %. Firma zároveň chystá nové měření, Audience Unlimited a Zuma.
Key Takeaways The Trade Desk is expanding its mid-market strategy as advertisers outside its top 500 grow over 50%.TTD's new measurement framework aims to better show incremental business results across the customer journey.Audience Unlimited and Zuma bring cheaper data access, AI and easier workflows to improve campaign efficiency. The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) is expanding beyond its traditional base of large advertisers and agencies to capture a broader pool of midsize businesses and agencies. Per management, advertisers outside its top 500 have grown more than 50% year over year on a year-to-date basis, pointing to momentum among smaller and emerging brands. TTD highlighted three major forces working in its favor as it executes its mid-market strategy while navigating the competitive and macro pressures facing digital advertising.
First, the company is advancing its product roadmap to improve media buying, with a major focus on measurement. Its new measurement framework, currently in alpha, aims to value the full customer journey better rather than relying on last-click or last-view metrics. By giving marketers greater visibility into incremental business results, TTD seeks to make premium open-Internet advertising more measurable and effective.
Second, TTD is ramping up Audience Unlimited, which simplifies how marketers discover and activate third-party data using AI and proprietary data. Its new subscription-based pricing makes data access easier and more cost-effective. As the product moves into Open Beta, early results are encouraging, with a global advertiser cutting both cost per unique household and data CPM by more than 25%, underscoring its potential to improve campaign efficiency.
Lastly, TTD is set to launch Zuma, a major platform upgrade focused on usability. It will streamline navigation, workflows and troubleshooting while leveraging more AI to create a more intuitive user experience. The upgrade reflects TTD’s efforts to respond to client needs and accelerate product innovation. Collectively, these upgrades can make decision-making more measurable and valuable, creating a stronger path to revenue growth.
How Rivals Stack Up Against TTDMagnite (MGNI - Free Report) growth is driven by strong CTV and DV+ demand. Key industry trends include rising programmatic adoption, international expansion and the shift toward CTV, while AI and agentic advertising are emerging as major opportunities. Magnite is developing AI-powered tools and agentic infrastructure to streamline demand-supply orchestration, create customized inventory and audience packages, and eventually support one-to-many RTB auctions. It also sees growing opportunities in live sports, particularly as streaming expands programmatic monetization. Despite some near-term moderation from tough comparisons and macro factors, Magnite expects continued CTV growth and margin expansion, with long-term margins potentially exceeding 40%.
Taboola.com Inc. (TBLA - Free Report) continues to execute despite industry headwinds, including Google policy changes and publisher network cleanup, while raising its full-year ex-TAC growth outlook to 9%. The company is expanding relationships with major publishers like FOX News and winning broader ad-suite opportunities. AI is also becoming a key growth driver, with its Realize+ optimization platform adopted by more than 300 advertisers and new MCP and Claude integrations enabling natural-language campaign management. Taboola also raised its full-year financial outlook and remains focused on disciplined capital allocation, including share repurchases, though persistent FX headwinds could weigh on margins through 2026.
TTD’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of TTD have declined 74.8% in the past year against the Zacks Internet Services industry and S&P 500 composites’ rise of 57.6% and 21.3%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, TTD trades at a forward price-to-earnings of 26.29X, higher than the industry’s average of 20.41X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings has been revised downward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Trade Desk ve 3. čtvrtletí čeká výnosy nejméně 650 milionů USD a upravenou EBITDA asi 160 milionů USD. Firma varuje, že makroekonomický tlak a slabší viditelnost dál brzdí růst.
Key Takeaways Trade Desk expects Q3 revenues of at least $650 million and adjusted EBITDA of about $160 million.Macro pressure in CPG and autos is weighing on Trade Desk's near-term visibility.CTV, retail media, AI and international growth remain key long-term opportunities for Trade Desk. The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) delivered muted second-quarter 2026 results and issued a cautious third-quarter outlook, reflecting macroeconomic pressures and execution challenges.
Quarterly revenues increased 3% year over year to $715 million. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $241 million, representing a margin of 34%. For the third quarter, management expects revenues of at least $650 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $160 million.
Trade Desk highlighted ongoing pressure in key verticals such as Food & Drink and Home & Garden as consumer-packaged goods (“CPG”) brands face geopolitical tensions, inflation and consumer softness. While automotive is an “area of strength overall”, it is also impacted by tariffs, added management. CPG and autos together account for about 25% of platform spend, increasing exposure to cautious enterprise budgets. The company also admitted execution gaps that contributed to the underperformance.
Near-term visibility remains challenging as management's third-quarter guidance assumes no meaningful improvement in the macro backdrop.
Nonetheless, Trade Desk retains long-term opportunities in CTV, retail data and international expansion. In the second quarter, video — which includes CTV — represented a low-50s percentage share of the total business. The shift from linear TV to CTV is still in early stages, providing a long runway for growth. CTV revenues in both EMEA and APAC increased more than 50% year over year, showing that adoption is broadening beyond the United States.
The company had 217 clients with joint business plans in the second quarter, up 38% year over year. Revenues under those plans grew at six times the company’s overall revenue growth rate.
Beyond CTV, retail media has emerged as one of the fastest-growing areas in the digital advertising space. Trade Desk highlighted that participating retailers represented more than 80% of U.S. retail sales. The company also renewed its partnership with Walmart.
Trade Desk is leaning into AI and measurement that tie media to outcomes. Its new measurement framework is currently in alpha and is built to assign value across the customer journey, added Trade Desk. Further, Trade Desk is ramping Audience Unlimited, which is now moving to open beta. Management also plans to launch the Zuma upgrade (for platform usability) in August 2026 to streamline navigation, workflows and troubleshooting while enhancing user experience.
While these initiatives provide potential growth catalysts, weaker visibility, macroeconomic pressures and execution issues suggest that TTD's near-term growth trajectory remains challenging. Compounding the issues is the intensifying competition in the ad tech space from the likes of walled gardens like Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) and smaller rivals like Magnite (MGNI - Free Report) .
Mapping the Competitive TerrainMagnite’s core growth engine, CTV business, continues to deliver strong performance. Second-quarter 2026 CTV contribution ex-TAC of $97 million was up 36% year over year, now accounting for 51% of total contribution ex-TAC.
Magnite noted that the top 10 CTV accounts grew in the mid-to-high 40% range. MGNI works with some of the biggest names in the industry, such as Roku, Netflix, VIZIO, Walmart and Warner Bros. Discovery. Momentum in its ClearLine platform and the SpringServe (CTV ad serving and SSP platform) bode well. Like Trade Desk, MGNI is also embedding AI across its platform to improve pricing, campaign execution, decision-making and workflow automation.
Amazon’s advertising business has gradually emerged as a strong contender in the digital advertising space, leveraging its first-party data. At the center of Amazon’s ad business lies its DSP platform. AMZN’s DSP platform enables advertisers to plan, activate and measure full-funnel investments.
Advertising revenues jumped 26% year over year to $19.8 billion in the second quarter, with Sponsored Products remaining its key growth driver. Amazon is also witnessing continued growth and engagement in Prime Video ads and live sports, with inventory across NBA, WNBA, Thursday Night Football and NASCAR selling out. The company is strengthening its advertising capabilities through AI-powered tools such as Ads Agent, which reduces campaign setup and targeting time.
TTD Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of TTD have declined 24.2% in the past month, while the Zacks Internet – Services industry has inched up 0.2%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of forward price/earnings, TTD’s shares are trading at 7.23X, lower than the Internet Services industry’s ratio of 20.13X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings for 2026 has been significantly revised downward over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Trade Desk klesl až o 5,8 % na nejnižší úroveň od ledna 2019 po snížení ratingu HSBC z hold na reduce (sell). Analytik Mohammed Khallouf upozornil na slabé výsledky za 2. čtvrtletí, které označil za „dismal“, a na tlak konkurence z AI, která podle něj způsobuje strukturální posun od otevřeného internetu.
Shares of The Trade Desk (TTD -5.23%) plunged again on Monday, falling as much as 5.8% to lows not seen since Jan. 2019. As of 2:27 p.m. ET, the stock was still down 5.4%.
The catalyst that sent the adtech specialist swooning was the latest Wall Street downgrade.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Bleak outlook HSBC analyst Mohammed Khallouf downgraded The Trade Desk to reduce (sell) from hold and slashed his price target to $10 from $20. That suggests the stock could still fall by another 29% from Friday's closing price.
The analyst cited The Trade Desk's waning performance, calling its second-quarter results "dismal" and noting the company's "sizable miss and guidance shock." He went on to say that the increasingly competitive operating environment wrought by artificial intelligence (AI) is causing a structural shift away from the open internet -- the company's bread and butter.
The Trade Desk's results from earlier this month bear out the analyst's take. In the second quarter, the company reported revenue growth of just 3% year over year to $715 million. The anemic growth flowed through to the bottom line, as adjusted earnings per share (EPS) slumped 17% to $0.34. That was well below analysts' consensus estimates, which called for revenue of $753 million and EPS of $0.18.
Today's Change
(
-5.23
%) $
-0.74
Current Price
$
13.40
I've been a shareholder of The Trade Desk for years, so I'm rooting for the company to succeed. That said, management has been working to engineer a turnaround for 18 months now, and its results continue to deteriorate.
The stock is currently selling for less than 16 times earnings, its lowest valuation ever, but the uncertainty facing The Trade Desk and its apparent inability to turn things around make it far too risky for new money. I'm not selling yet, but my patience is beginning to wear thin.
HSBC Holdings is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Danny Vena, CPA has positions in The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool recommends HSBC Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Akcie The Trade Desk po slabých výsledcích a slabším výhledu klesly o 2,88 %. Tržby ve čtvrtletí vzrostly jen o 3 % a v příštím kvartálu mají klesnout.
Buying the dip sounds easy. The hard part is knowing whether you're buying a temporary setback or the start of a long-term decline.
That's the question investors face with The Trade Desk (TTD -2.88%).
After another disappointing earnings report, the stock plunged as slowing growth and weaker guidance shook investor confidence.
But here's the interesting part. The company remains profitable. Customer retention is still above 95%. Digital advertising continues to grow. Yet the stock has lost a significant portion of its value.
That disconnect tells you something important. The market isn't pricing The Trade Desk based on what it is today. It's pricing what investors think it could become tomorrow.
Image source: Getty Images.
The bull case is still largely intact.
It's easy to forget that The Trade Desk still operates one of the largest independent digital advertising platforms in the world.
Brands continue to shift advertising budgets toward digital channels, connected TV continues to replace traditional television, and advertisers increasingly want measurable returns on every marketing dollar.
Those trends haven't disappeared.
Neither has The Trade Desk's ability to benefit from them. The company still retains more than 95% of its customers, suggesting that advertisers continue to find value in the platform. It also continues to invest heavily in Kokai, its AI-powered platform, which management believes can improve campaign performance and make the open internet easier to navigate.
If Kokai consistently delivers better results, advertisers have a strong reason to keep increasing their spending. That's still a compelling long-term opportunity.
Today's Change
(
-2.88
%) $
-0.42
Current Price
$
14.14
But the market is, rightfully, asking a different question.
The problem isn't whether The Trade Desk is a good business. It's whether it's still an exceptional one.
For years, investors happily paid premium valuations because they believed three things:
Growth would remain above 20%.
Management would continue executing almost flawlessly.
Competition wouldn't materially change the story.
Today, none of those assumptions looks certain. Amazon has become a much larger force in digital advertising. Google and Meta continue strengthening their AI capabilities. Meanwhile, The Trade Desk has reported slower growth and weaker guidance than investors expected. For perspective , revenue grew just 3% this quarter, and is expected to decline in the coming quarter.
In other words, the stock now has something it hasn't faced in years: It has to prove itself again.
The answer to this question depends on one thing: Do you believe The Trade Desk can return to its good old days as a consistent growth company?
If the answer is yes, today's valuation could look attractive over time. As of writing, the stock trades at a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 15.7 times, a level not seen since 2017. If the answer is no, the stock may stay inexpensive for a long time, even if the business remains healthy.
That's why this doesn't look like a traditional buy-the-dip opportunity, in which the underlying business remains the same despite a decline in the share price. Instead, it looks like a prove-it opportunity.
In this case, the next few quarters will matter enormously. Investors should watch for signs that revenue growth begins to accelerate again, whether advertisers continue to increase their spending on the platform, and whether the company can incorporate AI to help advertisers achieve better returns on investment.
If those pieces fall into place, investors' confidence could return. If they don't, the market may conclude that The Trade Desk has entered a new phase, one where slower growth (or even no growth) becomes the norm. In the latter scenario, today's valuation is not really a bargain.
What does it mean for investors?
Buying the dip works best when the market has overreacted to temporary problems that a company is facing. On the other hand, buying a value trap happens when investors mistake a changing business for a cheaper stock.
Today, The Trade Desk sits somewhere between those two outcomes. The company still has the ingredients of a long-term winner. But it no longer gets the benefit of the doubt.
What the company needs to do is to regain investors' trust – and that starts by delivering improving results in the near future.
In short, investors should buy the dip only if they are convinced that the company's recent challenges are temporary, not structural.
The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD – Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 70,402 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 27% compared to the average volume of 55,491 call options.
Key Headlines Impacting Trade Desk Here are the key news stories impacting Trade Desk this week:
Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity provided a limited bullish signal: traders purchased 70,402 call options, 27% above typical daily call volume. However, this does not necessarily indicate a change in the company’s fundamentals. Neutral Sentiment: CEO Jeffrey Green has continued buying shares, including approximately 6 million shares over the past six months. Investors are weighing that insider confidence against the stock’s steep decline and weaker business outlook. The Trade Desk Stock Opinions on Earnings Miss and Guidance Cut Negative Sentiment: The latest earnings report and third-quarter guidance disappointed investors. Revenue was reported at approximately $715.1 million, up only about 3% year over year, while the outlook pointed to further deceleration. The results raised concerns about weakening demand and limited near-term growth in programmatic advertising. Why The Trade Desk Shares Are Plunging Today Negative Sentiment: Analysts responded by cutting ratings and price targets. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded TTD to “underperform” with a $10 target, while DA Davidson lowered its target to $16 and maintained a “neutral” rating. Robert W. Baird, Evercore, BMO Capital Markets, and RBC also reduced their ratings or outlooks. Additional target cuts included $14 from Cantor Fitzgerald and $12 from Rosenblatt Securities. Why Is The Trade Desk Stock Falling on Monday? Negative Sentiment: The selloff has been more severe than declines among some advertising technology peers, suggesting investors view The Trade Desk’s earnings execution and growth profile as company-specific weaknesses rather than simply an industry-wide problem. Trade Desk Stock Is Falling Today Negative Sentiment: Institutional positioning also appears cautious, with more funds reducing holdings than adding shares in the latest quarter. This reinforces pressure on TTD as investors reassess its valuation and competitive moat. Trade Desk Stock Performance NASDAQ:TTD opened at $13.39 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $18.62 and its 200-day moving average is $22.55. Trade Desk has a 52 week low of $12.83 and a 52 week high of $56.77. The firm has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.04.
Analysts Set New Price Targets TTD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush set a $21.00 price objective on Trade Desk and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Trade Desk from $25.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. HSBC lowered shares of Trade Desk from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $10.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday. Evercore cut Trade Desk from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $13.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Trade Desk from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Trade Desk has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $19.33.
View Our Latest Stock Report on TTD
Insider Transactions at Trade Desk In other Trade Desk news, Director Samantha Jacobson sold 53,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.14, for a total value of $1,134,816.34. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,099 shares in the company, valued at $276,912.86. This trade represents a 80.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.41% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Trade Desk Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Trade Desk by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,586 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $539,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Trade Desk by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,480 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Trade Desk by 75.5% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 5,275 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 2,269 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Trade Desk by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 59,785 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,304,000 after purchasing an additional 19,015 shares during the period. Finally, AXA S.A. increased its holdings in Trade Desk by 14.7% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 42,819 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,083,000 after buying an additional 5,487 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.77% of the company’s stock.
Trade Desk Company Profile (Get Free Report)
The Trade Desk, Inc (NASDAQ: TTD) is a technology company that provides a demand-side platform (DSP) for programmatic digital advertising. Its platform enables advertisers, agencies and other buyers to plan, purchase and measure ad inventory across digital channels, including display, video, mobile, audio, native and connected TV. By centralizing real‑time bidding, audience targeting and inventory access, the company aims to help clients optimize media spend and reach audiences at scale across publishers and ad exchanges.
Founded in 2009 by Jeff Green and Dave Pickles, The Trade Desk grew from a focus on programmatic display into a global ad‑tech provider.
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The Trade Desk klesá po slabých výsledcích za 2. čtvrtletí, kdy tržby vzrostly jen o 3 % a výhled na 3. čtvrtletí počítá s poklesem tržeb. HSBC snížila doporučení z hold na reduce a cíl na 10 USD.
Shares of The Trade Desk (TTD -6.16%) were falling again on Monday as Wall Street reactions to last week's dismal earnings report rolled in.
As of 9:55 a.m. ET, the stock was down 4.7% on the news.
Image source: Getty Images.
In its second-quarter earnings report, The Trade Desk reported revenue growth that slowed to just 3%, its slowest growth rate in its history, except for the first quarter during the pandemic.
The company's guidance for the third quarter also implied a decline in revenue, showing the business is collapsing as walled gardens like Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet seem to be outcompeting it for ad dollars.
This morning, HSBC downgraded the stock from hold to reduce and gave it a $10 price target, implying the stock would fall another 30% over the next year due to weakening relationships with agency partners, competitive pressure, and struggles to capitalize on AI advertising.
Morgan Stanley also lowered its price target from $26 to $13 and maintained an equal weight rating on the stock.
Today's Change
(
-6.16
%) $
-0.85
Current Price
$
12.95
Can The Trade Desk bounce back? Trade Desk stock is now down roughly 90% from its peak at the end of 2024 as the company has reported a string of disappointing quarterly results, with revenue growth consistently slowing.
Despite the challenges, CEO Jeff Green seems more focused on spinning the results than on overhauling the business to better compete with the walled gardens.
With revenue and profit now on track to fall in the third quarter, it's hard to see a compelling case to buy the adtech stock right now.
HSBC Holdings is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Jeremy Bowman has positions in Amazon and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool recommends HSBC Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Trade Desk klesá před výsledky za 2. čtvrtletí, které firma zveřejní po dnešním uzavření trhu. Analytici čekají zisk 40 centů na akcii a tržby 751,39 milionu USD.
The Trade Desk Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) shares are retreating Thursday as traders reduce exposure ahead of the programmatic advertising platform’s second-quarter results arriving after today’s close.
Trade Desk shares are retreating from recent levels. What’s pressuring TTD stock? Pre-Earnings Caution Builds as Growth Deceleration Weighs on SentimentAnalysts are expecting earnings of 40 cents per share on revenue of $751.39 million when the company reports after the bell, a target that sits just above the floor of the company’s own second-quarter guidance of at least $750 million in revenue alongside approximately $260 million in adjusted EBITDA, both figures issued when first-quarter results were released.
The first quarter introduced a note of caution that investors are carrying into today’s session. Revenue of $689 million advanced 12% from the prior year, a visible deceleration from the 25% expansion the company delivered in the same quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA of $206 million produced a 30% margin, four percentage points below the 34% achieved a year earlier, while adjusted earnings per share of 28 cents retreated from the 33 cents recorded in the comparable period.
CEO Jeff Green described the period as a strong quarter and credited strategic improvements across the organization for the outperformance, while acknowledging that the broader macroeconomic environment created headwinds the business had to navigate.
Customer retention held above 95% for more than a decade consecutively, and the company rolled out several initiatives during the period that could support future growth. Koa Agents brought agentic AI capabilities to media planning, buying and measurement across the open internet, while OpenTTD created a unified login and integrated analytics experience for clients and partners.
TTD Versus The Tape: A Downtrend That Still Has The WheelThe technical setup is straightforward. TTD sits 38% below its 200‑day SMA at $28.64 and 14.7% below its 100‑day SMA at $20.82. It is also trading under the 20‑day and 50‑day averages, and with the 20‑day SMA still beneath the 50‑day SMA, the short‑term trend remains tilted bearish. That is the kind of structure that tends to get punished when the market turns defensive.
There is one small sign that selling pressure may be easing. MACD has crossed above its signal line and the histogram is positive, which suggests the downside impulse is losing momentum compared with the prior leg lower. It does not repair the chart, but it does open the door for any rebound that starts reclaiming moving averages to travel farther than skeptics expect.
Key resistance: $20.50 — A nearby round‑number zone close to the 100‑day SMA where rebounds have stalled. Key support: $17.00 — A floor near the recent 52‑week low at $16.70, where buyers have stepped in. If $17.00 holds, the next question is whether the stock can work back into the $18.50–$19.50 zone and start rebuilding credibility. If it cannot, the market will continue treating strength as an opportunity to exit.
TTD Shares Are FallingTTD Price Action: Trade Desk shares were down 6.01% at $17.82 at the time of publication on Thursday. The stock is trading near its 52-week low of $16.70, according to Benzinga Pro.
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The Trade Desk ve 2. čtvrtletí zvýšil výnosy na 715 mil. USD, ale čistý zisk klesl na 64 mil. USD z 90 mil. USD před rokem. Pro 3. čtvrtletí očekává výnosy alespoň 650 mil. USD.
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Trade Desk, Inc. (“The Trade Desk,” the “Company” or “we”) (NASDAQ: TTD), a provider of a global technology platform for buyers of advertising, today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2026.
“This quarter did not meet the standard we set for ourselves, but it has reinforced our belief that we are focused on the right opportunities for the future,” said Jeff Green, Co-Founder and CEO of The Trade Desk. “Marketers are navigating a complex environment, but complexity increases the value of decisioning, measurement and AI. We have a clear understanding of the factors that impacted our performance, and we are taking decisive action to strengthen our execution, upgrade our platform, and sharpen our focus on the areas where we can create the greatest value. While there is work ahead, I am confident our actions will help marketers drive better business outcomes and support the shift of media budgets toward the open internet.”
Second Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights:
The following table summarizes the Company’s unaudited consolidated financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025 ($ in millions, except per share amounts):
Three Months Ended
June 30,
Six Months Ended
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
GAAP Results
Revenue
$
715
$
694
$
1,404
$
1,310
Increase in revenue year over year
3
%
19
%
7
%
22
%
Net income
$
64
$
90
$
104
$
141
Net income margin
9
%
13
%
7
%
11
%
GAAP diluted earnings per share
$
0.14
$
0.18
$
0.22
$
0.28
Non-GAAP Results
Adjusted EBITDA
$
241
$
271
$
447
$
479
Adjusted EBITDA margin
34
%
39
%
32
%
37
%
Non-GAAP net income
$
158
$
203
$
292
$
368
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share
$
0.34
$
0.41
$
0.62
$
0.74
Second Quarter and Recent Business Highlights:
Strong Customer Retention: Customer retention remained over 95% during the second quarter, as it has for over a decade. New Innovation and Partnership Announcements: Dentsu named The Trade Desk as the first DSP partner for its new end-to-end retail data offering from New Stream Media. The Trade Desk expanded its commerce media ecosystem through integrations with leading travel, hospitality and mobility including Booking.com, Agoda, Kayak, Priceline, Marriott, Uber and United Airlines, helping advertisers activate high-intent commerce and travel signals and unify campaign activation, measurement and optimization across the open internet. Databricks named The Trade Desk a launch partner for CustomerLake, connecting first-party data and agentic AI directly to media execution across the open internet. Adobe and The Trade Desk forged a new integration connecting paid media exposure data directly to first-party profiles in Adobe Real-Time CDP. Connected TV (CTV): The Trade Desk offers advertisers access to premium inventory across major networks and streaming services around the world. Netflix joined The Trade Desk’s Sellers and Publishers 500+, enabling advertiser access to Netflix’s premier streaming environment automatically through the company’s scaled inventory marketplace. Samsung Ads opened its premium home screen inventory to programmatic buyers, with The Trade Desk named among the first platforms granted access, giving advertisers a unified view of creative and measurement performance. Strengthened Executive Leadership and Governance: The Trade Desk recently appointed Nate Olmstead as Chief Financial Officer, Sarah Gavin as Chief Marketing Officer and EVP, Kristi Argyilan as Chief Commercial Officer and EVP, Ron Lamprecht as Chief Business Development Officer and SVP, and Vinny Rinaldi as Vice President of Client Strategy & Growth, further strengthening the company’s leadership across finance, marketing, commercial strategy, data partnerships and strategic partnerships. The Company also added advertising, AI, and global scaling expertise to its Board of Directors, through the appointments of Penry Price and David Haddad to its board of directors. Share Repurchases: The Company used approximately $78 million of cash to repurchase its Class A common stock in the second quarter of 2026. As of June 30, 2026, the Company had $269 million available and authorized for repurchases. Industry Recognition: Wall Street Journal’s Best Companies for the Future, 2026 Newsweek’s America’s Greatest Workplaces, 2026 Newsweek’s America’s Greatest Workplaces for Entry Level, 2026 QKS SPARK Matrix, Leader - Ad Tech Platforms, 2026 Financial Guidance:
Third Quarter 2026 outlook summary:
Revenue at least $650 million Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $160 million The Company has not provided an outlook for GAAP net income or reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA guidance to net income, the closest corresponding U.S. GAAP measure, because net income outlook is not available without unreasonable efforts on a forward-looking basis due to the variability and complexity with respect to the charges included in the calculation of this GAAP measure; in particular, the measures and effects of our stock-based compensation expense that are directly impacted by unpredictable fluctuations in our share price. The Company expects the variability of the above charges could have a significant and potentially unpredictable impact on our future U.S. GAAP financial results.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information
Included within this press release are the non-GAAP financial measures of Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Non-GAAP net income and Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) that supplement the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations of the Company prepared under generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Adjusted EBITDA is net income before depreciation and amortization expense; stock-based compensation expense; interest income, net; and provision for income taxes. Adjusted EBITDA margin is Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue, and Adjusted EBITDA margin’s closest corresponding U.S. GAAP measure is net income margin, which is GAAP net income divided by revenue. Non-GAAP net income excludes charges and the related income tax effects for stock-based compensation. Tax rates on the tax-deductible portions of the stock-based compensation expense approximating 25% to 30% have been used in the computation of non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted EPS. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP amounts for the periods presented herein are provided in schedules accompanying this release and should be considered together with the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. These non-GAAP measures are not meant as a substitute for GAAP, but are included solely for informational and comparative purposes. The Company’s management believes that this information can assist investors in evaluating the Company's profitability, operational trends and financial performance. Management believes these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate the Company’s financial performance using some of the same measures as management and securities analysts. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation of, as a replacement for, or as superior to corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures and may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies.
Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Webcast and Conference Call Details
When: August 6, 2026 at 2:00 P.M. Pacific Time (5:00 P.M. Eastern Time). Webcast: A live webcast of the call can be accessed from the Investor Relations section of The Trade Desk’s website at http://investors.thetradedesk.com. Following the call, a replay will be available on the Company’s website. Dial-in: To access the call via telephone in North America, please dial 877-545-0320. For callers outside the United States, please dial +1-973-528-0002. Participants should reference the conference call ID code “515323” after dialing in. Audio replay: An audio replay of the call will be available beginning about two hours after the call. To listen to the replay in the United States, please dial 877-481-4010 (replay code: 54293). Outside the United States, please dial +1-919-882-2331 (replay code: 54293). The audio replay will be available via telephone until August 13, 2026. The Trade Desk, Inc. uses its Investor Relations website (http://investors.thetradedesk.com), its X feed (@TheTradeDesk), LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-trade-desk), Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TheTradeDesk) and Jeff Green’s LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefftgreen) as a means of disclosing information about the Company and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. The information that is posted through these channels may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor these channels in addition to The Trade Desk’s press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls and webcasts.
About The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk™ is a technology company that empowers buyers of advertising. Through its self-service, cloud-based platform, ad buyers can create, manage, and optimize digital advertising campaigns across ad formats and devices. Integrations with major data, inventory, and publisher partners ensure maximum reach and decisioning capabilities, and enterprise APIs enable custom development on top of the platform. Headquartered in Ventura, CA, The Trade Desk has offices across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit thetradedesk.com or follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to expectations concerning matters that (a) are not historical facts, (b) predict or forecast future events or results, or (c) embody assumptions that may prove to have been inaccurate, including statements relating to industry and market trends, the Company’s growth and financial targets, such as revenue and Adjusted EBITDA. When words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “will,” “outlook” or similar expressions are used, the Company is making forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot give readers any assurance that such expectations will prove correct. These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those related to the Company’s ability to maintain and grow its client base and revenue through its platform and related offerings, which makes it difficult to evaluate the Company’s business and prospects, the market for programmatic advertising developing slower or differently than the Company’s expectations, the demands and expectations of clients and the ability to attract and retain clients. The actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. These are disclosed in the Company’s reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Form 10-K and any subsequent filings on Forms 10-Q or 8-K, available at www.sec.gov. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company does not intend to update any forward-looking statement contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date hereof.
THE TRADE DESK, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended
June 30,
Six Months Ended
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
Revenue
$
715,057
$
694,039
$
1,403,914
$
1,310,060
Operating expenses (1):
Platform operations
184,333
150,980
366,303
293,819
Sales and marketing
174,404
161,131
346,583
313,874
Technology and development
140,742
134,251
283,462
266,653
General and administrative
114,001
130,900
239,342
264,485
Total operating expenses
613,480
577,262
1,235,690
1,138,831
Income from operations
101,577
116,777
168,224
171,229
Other expense (income):
Total other income, net
(11,514
)
(16,424
)
(23,825
)
(37,741
)
Income before income taxes
113,091
133,201
192,049
208,970
Provision for income taxes
48,697
43,072
87,658
68,163
Net income
$
64,394
$
90,129
$
104,391
$
140,807
Earnings per share:
Basic
$
0.14
$
0.18
$
0.22
$
0.29
Diluted
$
0.14
$
0.18
$
0.22
$
0.28
Weighted-average shares outstanding:
Basic
468,359
490,631
471,494
492,767
Diluted
469,948
495,776
473,397
499,340
THE TRADE DESK, INC.
STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION EXPENSE
(Amounts in thousands)
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended
June 30,
Six Months Ended
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
Platform operations
$
8,816
$
9,083
$
17,214
$
18,300
Sales and marketing
30,645
30,368
57,663
59,304
Technology and development
43,138
42,800
83,921
83,781
General and administrative (1)
26,957
46,634
59,804
95,753
Total
$
109,556
$
128,885
$
218,602
$
257,138
THE TRADE DESK, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(Amounts in thousands)
(Unaudited)
As of June 30,
2026
As of December 31,
2025
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents
$
1,122,979
$
658,175
Short-term investments, net
362,354
644,882
Accounts receivable, net
3,200,824
3,770,194
Prepaid expenses and other current assets
129,670
187,753
Total current assets
4,815,827
5,261,004
Property and equipment, net
455,151
396,819
Operating lease assets
335,228
342,042
Deferred income taxes
55,700
55,700
Other assets, non-current
102,540
97,655
Total assets
$
5,764,446
$
6,153,220
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable
$
2,562,580
$
3,007,651
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities
150,174
181,991
Operating lease liabilities
80,922
76,355
Total current liabilities
2,793,676
3,265,997
Operating lease liabilities, non-current
353,188
359,975
Other liabilities, non-current
43,230
42,857
Total liabilities
3,190,094
3,668,829
Stockholders’ equity:
Preferred stock
—
—
Common stock
—
—
Additional paid-in capital
3,293,840
3,075,303
Accumulated deficit
(719,488
)
(590,912
)
Total stockholders’ equity
2,574,352
2,484,391
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity
$
5,764,446
$
6,153,220
THE TRADE DESK, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(Amounts in thousands)
(Unaudited)
Six Months Ended June 30,
2026
2025
OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
Net income
$
104,391
$
140,807
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization expense
61,571
50,689
Stock-based compensation expense
218,602
257,138
Noncash lease expense
38,057
34,253
Provision for expected credit losses on accounts receivable
4,290
1,177
Gain on sale of property and equipment
(13,772
)
—
Other
4,850
(13,899
)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable
548,109
80,033
Prepaid expenses and other current and non-current assets
59,754
(18,281
)
Accounts payable
(427,941
)
(19,839
)
Accrued expenses and other current and non-current liabilities
(16,828
)
(24,081
)
Operating lease liabilities
(35,684
)
(31,551
)
Net cash provided by operating activities
545,399
456,446
INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Purchases of investments
(238,872
)
(577,834
)
Sales of investments
112,060
—
Maturities of investments
409,583
346,120
Purchases of property and equipment
(125,966
)
(104,352
)
Proceeds from sale of property and equipment
15,513
—
Capitalized software development costs
(7,399
)
(5,739
)
Business acquisition
—
(4,350
)
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities
164,919
(346,155
)
FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Repurchases of Class A common stock
(241,331
)
(647,093
)
Proceeds from exercise of stock options
4,706
14,085
Proceeds from employee stock purchase plan
11,929
32,450
Taxes paid relating to net settlement of restricted stock
(20,818
)
(57,048
)
Proceeds from short-term borrowings
—
74,239
Net cash used in financing activities
(245,514
)
(583,367
)
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
464,804
(473,076
)
Cash and cash equivalents—Beginning of period
658,175
1,369,463
Cash and cash equivalents—End of period
$
1,122,979
$
896,387
Non-GAAP Financial Metrics
(Amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)
(Unaudited)
The following tables show the Company’s non-GAAP financial metrics reconciled to the comparable GAAP financial metrics included in this release.
Three Months Ended
June 30,
Six Months Ended
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
Net income
$
64,394
$
90,129
$
104,391
$
140,807
Add back (deduct):
Depreciation and amortization expense
30,140
26,704
61,571
50,689
Stock-based compensation expense
109,556
128,885
218,602
257,138
Interest income, net
(11,508
)
(18,035
)
(24,877
)
(38,167
)
Provision for income taxes
48,697
43,072
87,658
68,163
Adjusted EBITDA
$
241,279
$
270,755
$
447,345
$
478,630
Three Months Ended
June 30,
Six Months Ended
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
GAAP net income
$
64,394
$
90,129
$
104,391
$
140,807
Add back (deduct):
Stock-based compensation expense
109,556
128,885
218,602
257,138
Adjustment for income taxes
(16,396
)
(15,940
)
(31,218
)
(29,878
)
Non-GAAP net income
$
157,554
$
203,074
$
291,775
$
368,067
GAAP diluted earnings per share
$
0.14
$
0.18
$
0.22
$
0.28
GAAP weighted-average shares outstanding—diluted
469,948
495,776
473,397
499,340
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share
$
0.34
$
0.41
$
0.62
$
0.74
Non-GAAP weighted-average shares used in computing Non-GAAP earnings per share, diluted
Trade Desk oznámí výsledky za 2. čtvrtletí 2026 6. srpna; výnosy mají vzrůst o 8,3 % na 751,6 milionu USD. Firma ale varuje před makroekonomickými tlaky, vyššími náklady na AI a silnější konkurencí.
Key Takeaways Trade Desk will report Q2 results on Aug. 6, with revenues expected to rise 8.3% to $751.6 million.CTV, retail media, JBP growth and international momentum are expected to support Trade Desk's results.Macro pressure, higher AI costs and intensifying competition could weigh on Trade Desk's margins. The Trade Desk, Inc. (TTD - Free Report) will report its second-quarter 2026 results after market close on Aug. 6.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pinned at $751.6 million, up 8.3% from the prior-year reported number. The consensus estimate for earnings sits at 41 cents per share, flat year over year. The estimate has remained unchanged in the past 30 days.
For the June quarter, management expects revenues of at least $750 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $260 million.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Over the trailing four quarters, TTD’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate once, matched it once, and missed twice, resulting in an average negative surprise of 3.15%.
In the past year, shares of the company have lost 79.9% against the Zacks Internet Services industry’s growth of 72.3%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
What Does Our Model Unveil for TTD?Our proven model does not predict an earnings beat for Trade Desk this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy), or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. This is not the case here.
Trade Desk has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Factors at Play Ahead of TTD’s Q2 ResultsContinued momentum in key business areas, such as Connected TV (“CTV”), is expected to have cushioned TTD’s top-line performance in the to-be-reported quarter. CTV is the fastest-growing segment of the digital ad market, given the ongoing shift from linear TV.
Increasing digital spending in CTV, particularly for premium content and live sports, is a key growth driver. The transition toward biddable CTV has been gaining momentum. The benefits of decision-based buying (like greater flexibility, control and performance) compared with traditional programmatic guaranteed or insertion-order models have been rendering it the logical choice for advertisers.
Beyond CTV, retail media has emerged as one of the fastest-growing areas in the digital advertising space. On the last earnings call, TTD highlighted that the retailers in its data marketplace now represent more than 80% of sales from top U.S. retailers, compared with Amazon’s (AMZN - Free Report) roughly 15% share. The company is also extending its Audience Unlimited offering and adding new retail media partnerships. This is likely to have supported second quarter revenue performance.
Further, explosive growth in Joint Business Plans (“JBP”) bodes well. In the first quarter, the company reported a 55% increase in JBP count, with new deal spend (excluding renewals) rising 40% year over year. It signed some 45 deals in March alone.
Management remains highly optimistic regarding its international business. The company noted strong momentum across EMEA and APAC, reflecting multi-year investments in those regions. International business currently represents roughly 18% of total revenues, a clear opportunity for long-term growth.
The Trade Desk Price and Consensus
The Trade Desk price-consensus-chart | The Trade Desk Quote
Management continues to view AI as the next major evolution of programmatic advertising. TTD expanded its AI portfolio through the launch of Koa Agents, an AI-powered agentic capability with Stagwell as the partner, and OpenTTD, a unified login and analytics platform. On the call, TTD added that it believes large language models and AI-powered search platforms could eventually create a new premium advertising channel, expanding its addressable market.
However, macro headwinds remain the primary risk. TTD highlighted ongoing pressure in key verticals such as Food & Drink and Home & Garden as CPG brands face geopolitical tensions, inflation and consumer softness. While automotive remains strong, it is also impacted by tariffs. These factors contributed to a more cautious second-quarter revenue outlook despite confidence in the company's long-term positioning.
TTD is focused on embedding AI across the portfolio, which will further raise capex and operational costs. Rising expenses coupled with investments could compress margins if revenue growth slows. In the last reported quarter, total operating costs (excluding stock-based compensation) surged 18% year over year to $513 million. Expenses soared due to continued investments in enhancing platform capabilities, particularly in more AI-powered tools.
The company expects adjusted EBITDA margins in 2026 to remain in line with 2025, as it continues investing in AI capabilities, product innovation and go-to-market infrastructure.
Further, the competitive environment is intensifying. Walled gardens like Meta Platforms, Apple, Alphabet and Amazon offer fierce competition in this space as they control their inventory and first-party user data, allowing for highly targeted ad campaigns. AMZN’s expanding DSP business is giving tough competition to TTD, especially in this space.
Stocks to ConsiderHere are a few stocks that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this season.
Arista Networks (ANET - Free Report) currently has an Earnings ESP of +3.08% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
ANET is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Aug. 4, 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ANET’s to-be-reported quarter’s earnings and revenues is pegged at 89 cents per share and $2.83 billion, respectively. Shares of ANET have gained 49.8% in the past year.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.56% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. AMD is scheduled to report quarterly figures on Aug. 4, 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMD’s to-be-reported quarter’s earnings and revenues is pegged at $1.61 per share and $11.32 billion, respectively. Shares of AMD have skyrocketed 169.3% in the past year.
Jefferies varuje, že nadcházející hospodářské výsledky Trade Desk nevypadají přesvědčivě a strukturální problémy mohou přetrvat i po sporu s Publicis. Pro 2Q čeká růst tržeb o 8 % meziročně, pro 3Q pak o 9 %.
The Trade Desk (Trade Desk Inc (NASDAQ:TTD))'s upcoming print does not look compelling in either direction, according to analysts at Jefferies, who warned that structural challenges are likely to persist regardless of the outcome of the company's dispute with Publicis.
The brokerage said it is modeling second-quarter revenue growth of 8% year-over-year, in line with Street estimates, though it would not rule out a typical beat of around 2%.
Jefferies noted the second-quarter guide likely already reflects a full quarter of impact from the Publicis dispute, which began in mid-March, and that 8% year-over-year growth implies just 9% quarter-over-quarter growth, well below the 13%, 19% and 21% quarter-over-quarter growth Trade Desk posted in the second quarters of 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
For the third quarter, Jefferies is modeling 9% year-over-year growth, also in line with the Street, and called the guide a possible swing factor given the Publicis resolution and new go-to-market leadership. The firm said Street estimates for the third quarter imply 7% quarter-over-quarter growth, consistent with typical seasonality, and that the Publicis resolution along with modest political ad spend could drive upside.
At the same time, Jefferies said it has limited visibility into the concessions made to secure the Publicis resolution and is watching whether recent leadership hires, including a new chief business development officer, chief commercial officer and vice president of client strategy, create near-term disruption to the go-to-market organization.
Looking further out, Jefferies said Street estimates for 2027 revenue growth of 9.4%, roughly stable versus 9.8% in 2026, look aggressive given ongoing structural headwinds, including potential take-rate pressure, risk of incremental share loss and a tougher comparison against this year's political spending tailwind. The firm said stable growth is harder to sustain on a larger revenue base, with two-year growth trends yet to find a floor.
Jefferies pointed to competitive pressure from Amazon as a continuing risk, citing potential take-rate compression and share loss at a time when overall brand budget growth is slowing and spending continues to shift toward performance channels.
The firm also cited reports of declining open web publisher traffic as a potential structural headwind to Trade Desk's non-CTV business, and said it views competitive and operational pressures as stickier than management's more cyclical characterization.
Jefferies lowered its 2027 revenue estimate by 2% and its 2027 EBITDA estimate by 3% to approximately $1.4 billion, in line with the Street.
Trade Desk říká, že CTV zůstává klíčovým dlouhodobým tahounem růstu, protože inzerenti se přesouvají od lineární televize k programatické reklamě. Video včetně CTV tvořilo v prvním čtvrtletí 2026 nízkých 50 % byznysu.
Key Takeaways Trade Desk sees CTV as a major long-term growth driver as advertisers shift from linear TV.TTD said Disney, NBCUniversal and Netflix are advancing CTV advertising through programmatic efforts.TTD said video, including CTV, made up a low-50% share of business in first-quarter 2026. The Trade Desk, Inc. (TTD - Free Report) is benefiting from the continued momentum in connected TV (CTV), which remains one of the company's key long-term growth drivers. On the last earnings call, management highlighted that the transition of linear television to CTV is still in its early stages, creating a significant opportunity as advertisers increasingly shift toward data-driven advertising.
The company noted that the total addressable market for advertising continues to expand, supported by trends such as retail media, AI-powered search and chatbots, while the migration from linear TV to CTV further strengthens its long-term outlook. Despite a more challenging macroeconomic environment marked by geopolitical tensions, tariffs and economic uncertainty, Trade Desk believes sophisticated advertisers are becoming more deliberate and data-driven, creating opportunities for its platform.
TTD highlighted that premium publishers are increasingly embracing programmatic advertising, better data and improved supply chains to enhance advertising effectiveness. Disney, one of the largest CTV advertising publishers, continues to benefit from biddable programmatic advertising, lower ad loads and a direct relationship with Trade Desk. NBCUniversal is also supporting initiatives that improve CTV price discovery and advertiser signals, while Netflix continues to expand its advertising capabilities through technological enhancements with Trade Desk. Management stated that these developments reinforce the value of premium inventory and support greater advertiser participation across CTV.
Trade Desk also emphasized that improvements in advertising measurement are expected to support broader adoption of premium channels, such as CTV and audio. The company believes traditional last-touch attribution methods have limited the effectiveness of branding campaigns and premium inventory. As advertisers adopt more advanced measurement approaches and AI-driven decision-making, management expects greater investment in CTV campaigns that focus on long-term brand building rather than simply optimizing for lower-funnel metrics.
The company's first-quarter 2026 performance also reflected the continued strength of CTV. Management stated that CTV growth remained strong, supported by the ongoing shift away from linear television and increasing decisioned inventory from major publishers. Video, including CTV, represented a low-50% share of the company's business during the quarter and continued to increase as a percentage of total channel mix. Going ahead, Trade Desk plans to continue investing in AI-driven decisioning, retail media, CTV and identity while strengthening its platform to support long-term growth and help advertisers achieve measurable outcomes.
Taking a Look at TTD’s CompetitorsPubMatic, Inc. (PUBM - Free Report) is gaining from accelerating AI adoption, expanding CTV and mobile app advertising, and a more diversified demand-side platform (DSP) base. Its AI-powered AgenticOS and Agentic advertising solutions are driving new revenue streams, improving campaign automation and increasing customer adoption. Growth in emerging revenues, CTV, mobile apps and Commerce Media, supported by partnerships with Amazon, Walmart Connect and PayPal, is strengthening the company's growth profile. PubMatic's owned infrastructure and AI-driven efficiencies are lowering costs and expanding margins, while its broader publisher network, global expansion and growing mid-market DSP relationships position the company for sustained double-digit revenue growth.
Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) is gaining from aggressive international expansion, a diversified business model and broad-based AI adoption across its operations. International growth is being supported by continued investments in logistics infrastructure across Asia, Europe and Latin America, driving higher sales and improving profitability. Amazon Web Services remains a key growth engine, benefiting from rising cloud and AI demand, while the advertising business continues expanding as brands increase spending on its platform. The company is also integrating AI across AWS, logistics and e-commerce operations, enhancing efficiency, strengthening customer experiences and supporting long-term revenue growth and margin expansion across its businesses.
TTD’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of TTD have plunged 75.3% in the past year against the Zacks Internet -Services industry’s rise of 83.9%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Valuation-wise, TTD seems attractive, as suggested by the Value Score of B. From a valuation standpoint, TTD trades at a forward price-to-sales of 2.78X, lower than the industry’s average of 7.63X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings has been revised upward over the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Trade Desk zpřístupnil inzerentům v Japonsku nákupní údaje SEVEN-ELEVEN JAPAN od zhruba 28 milionů členů aplikace 7-Eleven App pro cílení reklamy napříč digitálními kanály.
Enabling integration of purchase data from approximately 28 million 7-Eleven App members on the DSP
, /PRNewswire/ -- The Trade Desk (Nasdaq: TTD), a global leader in advertising technology, today announced the integration of retail purchase data from SEVEN-ELEVEN JAPAN CO., LTD. (hereinafter "SEJ") into The Trade Desk platform, enabling advertisers to programmatically activate SEJ's retail purchase data across digital channels through The Trade Desk platform. The capability is now available to all advertisers in Japan. This represents one of the leading examples in Japan of integrating SEJ's purchase data with a DSP.
This integration enables advertisers to activate high-quality data at scale across digital channels on the open internet, including over‑the‑top (OTT), connected TV (CTV), audio, and display, representing an important step forward in Japan's retail media landscape.
Through this initiative, advertisers can seamlessly access and activate audience segments built from purchase data-driven insight based on the purchase behavior of approximately 28 million 7-Eleven App members directly within The Trade Desk platform. SEJ operates Japan's largest convenience store network, with around 22,000 stores nationwide and approximately 20 million daily visitors.[1] The integration enables activation of always-on audience segments — including demographic and high-demand purchase-based audiences — built from a wide range of product categories. Audience segments are curated based on advertiser needs using up to one year of purchase history (ID-POS data), enabling more precise audience targeting across omnichannel campaigns.
This collaboration addresses a longstanding challenge in Japan, where access to high-quality retail data has historically been fragmented and operationally complex. Through API integration with the platform, SEJ's data is regularly refreshed and made available within The Trade Desk platform, enabling advertisers to plan, activate, and optimize campaigns with greater efficiency and reduced operational complexity.
At the core of this integration is The Trade Desk's AI-driven platform, which transforms retail purchase signals into structured, scalable audience intelligence— bridging the gap between data access and real-time activation across channels. This enables advertisers to not only identify the right audiences, but to continuously refine and optimize how those audiences are reached, driving performance across the open internet.
"Japan's retail media ecosystem is entering a new phase," said Kei Majima, General Manager, Japan, The Trade Desk. "We are excited to bring this initiative to market, expanding access to one of Japan's most extensive retail data offerings for omnichannel advertising. As the industry evolves, the ability to programmatically activate high-quality data will be critical to driving performance and accountability in digital advertising. By integrating high-quality purchase data from SEJ, one of Japan's largest convenience store chains, directly into our platform, advertisers can now engage audiences more precisely and efficiently across channels, helping to unlock the full potential of retail data for advertisers in Japan."
Key Benefits for Advertisers
High-Fidelity Audience Segments: Access audience segments built on a wide range of product categories and up to one year of purchase history, enabling more precise demographic and purchase-based targeting. Custom Audience Capabilities: Collaborate with SEJ to build and activate audience segments tailored to specific brands for more precise targeting. Omnichannel Activation: Apply retail data across digital channels via The Trade Desk platform for flexible, scalable campaigns. AI-Powered Audience Activation & Optimization: Transform retail purchase data into scalable audiences that can be activated across channels and continuously refined using AI to improve campaign performance over time. Advancing Retail Media Infrastructure in Japan
This initiative reflects a broader evolution in Japan's retail data landscape—from fragmented, one-off data use to always-on, infrastructure-driven approaches that enable scalable and continuous audience engagement. Historically, retail data activation relied on custom integrations that limited continuous campaign execution. With this integration, SEJ's data can now be continuously refreshed and activated in real time, enabling advertisers to improve audience targeting accuracy and advertising performance in a privacy conscious manner.
As global retail data evolves toward greater standardization, enabling secure, scalable data use has become a key industry priority. This data integration signals a growing focus in Japan on not only protecting data but also enabling its responsible and effective utilization. Through this initiative, The Trade Desk and SEJ provide a practical model for how high-quality retail data can be applied at scale, demonstrating how infrastructure and privacy-conscious design can support more effective retail data activation at scale.
[1] Figures as of the end of May 2026
About The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk™ is a technology company that empowers buyers of advertising. Through its self-service, cloud-based platform, ad buyers can create, manage, and optimize digital advertising campaigns across ad formats and devices. Integrations with major data, inventory, and publisher partners ensure maximum reach and decisioning capabilities, and enterprise APIs enable custom development on top of the platform. Headquartered in Ventura, CA, The Trade Desk has offices across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit thetradedesk.com or follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Trade Desk v první polovině roku 2026 klesl o 52,4 % kvůli zpomalujícímu růstu, slabému výhledu a sporu s Publicis Groupe. Firma zároveň čelila odchodu CFO.
Shares of Trade Desk (TTD 1.19%) fell 52.4% in the first half of 2026, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The digital advertising platform faced a combination of slowing growth, executive turnover, and a public dispute with one of its largest partners.
Soft guidance and a major client dispute Trade Desk kicked off 2026 with a February earnings report that beat revenue estimates but came with the kind of guidance targets no investor wanted to hear. Management projected a sharp slowdown in Q1 growth, and many shareholders headed for the exits in a hurry.
Then came the Publicis problem. In March, advertising giant Publicis Groupe (PUBGY +1.81%) pulled its recommendation of Trade Desk after an audit alleged the company had been stacking fees in ways that didn't match contractual terms. Trade Desk disputed the findings, but the fallout contributed to reduced ad spending and soft Q2 guidance in May.
Image source: Getty Images.
This clash was a big deal, because Publicis used to be one of Trade Desk's top clients. The French company's market cap is more than twice Trade Desk's nowadays. It also sports roughly $19.9 billion in trailing sales, far outweighing Trade Desk's $3.0 billion.
The two sides eventually settled privately on June 12, with Publicis resuming its recommendation. Terms were not disclosed, and it wasn't market-moving news.
At the same time, Trade Desk's revenue growth is slowing down. The company is still growing at a double-digit percentage clip, year over year, but just barely. Two years ago, the top-line growth rate remained reliably above 20%. And management guided to just 8% sales growth in the upcoming Q2 2026 report. That's a long way from the hypergrowth days Trade Desk investors once took for granted.
Executive turnover added to the uncertainty. The company went through another CFO transition in early 2026; the departure of former CFO Alex Kayyal remains unexplained. The former venture capitalist still holds a board seat, so there can't be a ton of bad blood in his CFO departure. Still, the split raised eyebrows and dragged Trade Desk's stock down again.
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A vote of confidence from the CEO Not everything was doom and gloom. In April, CEO Jeff Green made headlines by personally buying $150 million worth of company stock. That's a meaningful vote of confidence from someone with a front-row seat to the business and its prospects.
Trade Desk's stock now trades 84% below its 2024 peak. The company remains profitable and is still growing revenue. It's the pace of growth that's slowing down. For patient investors, the depressed valuation could represent an attractive entry point; for skeptics, it reflects real risks that haven't fully played out.
Key questions for the second half of 2026 include whether growth can stabilize, how Trade Desk will fend off competition from Amazon's (AMZN 0.73%) advertising platform, and whether new AI tools and streaming-TV partnerships can translate into meaningful revenue.
The Q2 earnings report in early August should offer some clarity. I can hardly wait.
Akcie The Trade Desk v červnu klesly o 16 % poté, co investoři dál pochybovali o růstovém potenciálu firmy a odešel šéf příjmů Anders Mortenson. Tržby mají v aktuálním čtvrtletí růst pod 10 %.
Shares of The Trade Desk (TTD 1.25%) were slumping again last month after the leading independent demand-side adtech platform (DSP) got swept up in the broader sell-off in software stocks as investors continue to doubt its growth potential amid rapidly deteriorating sales growth.
Perhaps, the worst news for the company was that Chief Revenue Officer Anders Mortenson was asked to leave the company after just seven months, a sign of disarray and the challenges The Trade Desk is facing.
While there were some positive news items, the overall trend was negative, and the stock finished the month down 16%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
As you can see from the chart below, the stock fell in the first half of the month and remained down afterward.
TTD data by YCharts
What's happening with The Trade Desk The Trade Desk is facing pressure from AI disruption, but it's less from start-ups like Anthropic and more from entrenched tech companies like Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Platforms that are using AI automation tools to enhance their "walled gardens." Those three companies are the biggest digital ad platforms in the world, and are all outgrowing The Trade Desk, showing that they're taking market share from the adtech company.
Despite the pullback in the stock, there was some good news for The Trade Desk. The company reportedly settled its dispute with Publicis, one of the world's largest ad agency holding companies. Months ago, Publicis had told its clients to stop working with The Trade Desk after an audit showed unscrupulous practices such as improper billing, though that should no longer be a concern for investors.
The merger between Fox and Roku also seemed like a potential tailwind for The Trade Desk, and Benchmark reiterated a buy rating on the stock and a $30 price target, saying The Trade Desk is "critically important" to both Fox and Roku.
Image source: Getty Images.
What's next for The Trade Desk The Trade Desk is up 5% in July so far, gaining after a report in Bloomberg that said that Criteo, another adtech firm, was a buyout target for some private equity firms.
If there's a silver lining in the stock's collapse over the last year-and-a-half, it's that The Trade Desk is reasonably valued now at a price-to-earnings ratio of just 22, and it's solidly profitable. However, revenue growth is expected to fall below 10% in the current quarter and stay there.
If that doesn't change, it's hard to see the stock making a meaningful comeback.
Jeremy Bowman has positions in Amazon, Meta Platforms, Roku, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Roku, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool recommends Criteo. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
