Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) closed at $13.02 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.1% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.52% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.24%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.21%.

The digital-advertising platform operator's shares have seen an increase of 4.2% over the last month, surpassing the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 7.7% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.21%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of The Trade Desk in its upcoming release. On that day, The Trade Desk is projected to report earnings of $0.26 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 42.22%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $650.67 million, showing a 12% drop compared to the year-ago quarter.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $1.23 per share and revenue of $2.83 billion, indicating changes of -30.51% and -2.39%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for The Trade Desk. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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. Over the past month, there's been a 7% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. At present, The Trade Desk boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note The Trade Desk's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 10.67. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 14.91.

One should further note that TTD currently holds a PEG ratio of 0.6. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Internet - Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.63 as of yesterday's close.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 77, positioning it in the top 32% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) is one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com visitors lately. So, it might be a good idea to review some of the factors that might affect the near-term performance of the stock.

Shares of this digital-advertising platform operator have returned -4% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.7% change. The Zacks Internet - Services industry, to which The Trade Desk belongs, has lost 1.8% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?

While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.

Revisions to Earnings EstimatesHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.

We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

For the current quarter, The Trade Desk is expected to post earnings of $0.26 per share, indicating a change of -42.2% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

The consensus earnings estimate of $1.22 for the current fiscal year indicates a year-over-year change of -31.1%. This estimate has changed +3.4% over the last 30 days.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $1.22 indicates a change of -0.1% from what The Trade Desk is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +2.1%.

Having a strong externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, The Trade Desk is rated Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

Revenue Growth ForecastWhile earnings growth is arguably the most superior indicator of a company's financial health, nothing happens as such if a business isn't able to grow its revenues. After all, it's nearly impossible for a company to increase its earnings for an extended period without increasing its revenues. So, it's important to know a company's potential revenue growth.

For The Trade Desk, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $650.67 million indicates a year-over-year change of -12%. For the current and next fiscal years, $2.84 billion and $2.79 billion estimates indicate -2% and -1.7% changes, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryThe Trade Desk reported revenues of $715.06 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +3%. EPS of $0.34 for the same period compares with $0.41 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $751.58 million, the reported revenues represent a surprise of -4.86%. The EPS surprise was -17.07%.

Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed EPS estimates just once. The company topped consensus revenue estimates three times over this period.

ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.

Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.

As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

The Trade Desk is graded A on this front, indicating that it is trading at a discount to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about The Trade Desk. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

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.     
 

In the latest close session, The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) was down 6.78% at $12.24. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 1.09%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.34%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 2.15%.

Coming into today, shares of the digital-advertising platform operator had lost 7.92% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 1.99%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.44%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of The Trade Desk in its forthcoming earnings report. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.26, reflecting a 42.22% decrease from the same quarter last year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $650.67 million, showing a 12% drop compared to the year-ago quarter.

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.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for The Trade Desk. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 3.4% higher. Currently, The Trade Desk is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, The Trade Desk is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.74. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.82, which means The Trade Desk is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that TTD currently has a PEG ratio of 0.61. 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. Internet - Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.68 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 172, which puts it in the bottom 31% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.

Choosing between Reddit (RDDT +0.29%) and Trade Desk (TTD -1.68%)requires deciding between a rapidly growing community platform and a sophisticated technology backbone for the open internet advertising market.

Reddit relies on user-generated content and interest-based communities to drive engagement, whereas Trade Desk provides the infrastructure for advertisers to buy media across various digital channels. Both companies are primary beneficiaries of the shift toward digital ad spending.

The case for RedditReddit generates nearly 94% of its revenue from third-party advertising through its self-service platform. The company has expanded its ecosystem by partnering with Zefr for ad-tech verification and is exploring new revenue streams through content licensing for machine learning. Customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business, as licensing revenue currently comes from just two primary partners.

In FY 2025, revenue reached nearly $2.2 billion, representing a substantial 69.4% increase over the previous year. This growth was accompanied by a shift to profitability, as the company reported net income of approximately $529.7 million. This resulted in a net margin of roughly 24.1%, which measures how much of every dollar of revenue becomes actual profit after deducting all expenses.

Reddit offers a unique high-growth opportunity for those investing in social media stocks. As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the company reported a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.0x, meaning it carries virtually no debt relative to shareholder equity. Its current ratio, which measures the ability to pay short-term obligations, is a robust 11.6x, while free cash flow reached $684.2 million. Note that stock-based compensation accounted for roughly 49.7% of operating cash flow, inflating reported cash generation, since SBC is a non-cash expense added back to cash flow.

The case for Trade DeskTrade Desk operates a cloud-based platform for programmatic advertising, focusing exclusively on the buy-side of the market. Its business model relies on Master Services Agreements with large advertising agencies and brands, including firms like Publicis. This independent approach allows the company to serve the entire open internet, including high-growth segments like connected TV and mobile video.

In FY 2025, revenue reached nearly $2.9 billion, representing approximately 18.5% growth over the prior year. The company reported net income of nearly $443.3 million for the period. This indicates a net margin of roughly 15.3%, reflecting the company's ability to maintain steady profitability as it scales its global operations.

As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the current ratio is approximately 1.6x, and the debt-to-equity ratio is roughly 0.2x. The company generated free cash flow of nearly $795.7 million, which is the cash remaining after paying for operating costs and equipment. Note that stock-based compensation accounted for roughly 49.4% of operating cash flow, inflating reported cash generation, since SBC is a non-cash expense added back to cash flow.

Risk profile comparisonReddit faces significant risks to its user base and engagement, as it is highly dependent on daily active users. The platform competes for attention with giants like Meta Platforms, TikTok, and Alphabet. Furthermore, its reliance on community-led moderation poses the risk that controversial content could alienate advertisers, while evolving data privacy regulations such as the GDPR add complexity to its data-driven ad business.

The Trade Desk lacks exclusive client relationships, meaning advertising spend can be shifted to competitors with minimal effort. It also faces competition from integrated platforms like Alphabet and Amazon (AMZN -0.02%), which own both the advertising technology and the inventory itself. Additionally, the company is vulnerable to shifts in privacy laws that restrict the use of cookies and unique identifiers, which are vital for its programmatic targeting capabilities.

Valuation comparisonTrade Desk appears significantly cheaper than Reddit on a sales multiple basis, though both companies trade at very similar multiples relative to their future earnings estimates.

MetricRedditTrade DeskForward P/E29.3x30.7xP/S ratio11.0x1.9xValuation metrics include those sourced from Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) and may differ from those of other data providers.

The P/S ratio mentioned above compares the stock price to sales over the past twelve months. The Forward P/E measures the current stock price against its projected earnings per share.

When comparing Reddit and Trade Desk, investors should consider a few key factors. Let's have a look at them and see what that tells us about each stock.

First off, there's growth. This factor is one of the clearest divides between these two stocks. Since 2022, Reddit has averaged 52% year-over-year revenue growth. Trade Desk, on the other hand, has averaged about 23%. However, this gap has widened significantly in recent quarters. Reddit's revenue growth is above its historic average, at around 61%. Trade Desk, meanwhile, has seen its revenue growth contract sharply. In its most recent quarter, revenue growth slowed to 3%. In short, Reddit easily wins the category.

Another factor to consider is each stock's valuation. This category is more mixed. On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Trade Desk is much more affordable, with a P/S multiple of around 2x, while Reddit sports an 11x multiple. Yet, if we turn to forward price-to-earnings (P/E), the picture is more muddled. Reddit's 29x forward P/E multiple is actually lower than Trade Desk's 32x multiple.

Last, there's profitability. This factor is also mixed. On the one hand, Reddit's current operating margin of 28% leads Trade Desk's current 20%. However, if using a five-year historical average, Trade Desk's 12% tops Reddit's -18% margin. That said, the trend is clear: Reddit has pivoted from years of net losses to consistent profits over the last year and a half. Trade Desk, meanwhile, has produced steady but modest profits.

To sum up, Reddit comes out ahead in the growth category. Valuation and profitability are more mixed, but a case for Reddit could be made in both. Therefore, growth-oriented investors will likely give Reddit stronger consideration in a head-to-head matchup.

Few digital advertising names have taken a harder beating this year than The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD | TTD Price Prediction), and the damage now raises a blunt question about whether TTD stock is dead money or poised for a bounce.

The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) has recently been on Zacks.com's list of the most searched stocks. Therefore, you might want to consider some of the key factors that could influence the stock's performance in the near future.

Over the past month, shares of this digital-advertising platform operator have returned -15%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.4% change. During this period, the Zacks Internet - Services industry, which The Trade Desk falls in, has gained 2.5%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?

Although media reports or rumors about a significant change in a company's business prospects usually cause its stock to trend and lead to an immediate price change, there are always certain fundamental factors that ultimately drive the buy-and-hold decision.

Revisions to Earnings EstimatesRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.

Our analysis is essentially based on how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to take the latest business trends into account. When earnings estimates for a company go up, the fair value for its stock goes up as well. And when a stock's fair value is higher than its current market price, investors tend to buy the stock, resulting in its price moving upward. Because of this, empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and short-term stock price movements.

The Trade Desk is expected to post earnings of $0.26 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of -42.2%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged.

For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $1.22 points to a change of -31.1% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has remained unchanged.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $1.22 indicates a change of -0.1% from what The Trade Desk is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has remained unchanged.

Having a strong externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, The Trade Desk is rated Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

Revenue Growth ForecastWhile earnings growth is arguably the most superior indicator of a company's financial health, nothing happens as such if a business isn't able to grow its revenues. After all, it's nearly impossible for a company to increase its earnings for an extended period without increasing its revenues. So, it's important to know a company's potential revenue growth.

For The Trade Desk, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $650.67 million indicates a year-over-year change of -12%. For the current and next fiscal years, $2.84 billion and $2.79 billion estimates indicate -2% and -1.7% changes, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryThe Trade Desk reported revenues of $715.06 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +3%. EPS of $0.34 for the same period compares with $0.41 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $751.58 million, the reported revenues represent a surprise of -4.86%. The EPS surprise was -17.07%.

Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed EPS estimates just once. The company topped consensus revenue estimates three times over this period.

ValuationWithout considering a stock's valuation, no investment decision can be efficient. In predicting a stock's future price performance, it's crucial to determine whether its current price correctly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.

While comparing the current values of a company's valuation multiples, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), with its own historical values helps determine whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of the reasonability of the stock's price.

As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

The Trade Desk is graded A on this front, indicating that it is trading at a discount to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about The Trade Desk. However, its Zacks Rank #4 does suggest that it may underperform the broader market in the near term.

Like many other high-growth tech stocks, The Trade Desk (TTD -0.57%) generated significant hype when it began trading on the public market in September 2016. Since then, the stock has been a roller-coaster ride, to say the least. Unfortunately, the ride has been downhill at full speed for a few years now.

In the past five years, The Trade Desk's stock has fallen 82%, meaning if you had invested $1,000 in the stock then, your investment would be worth $179 as of Sept. 30. Needless to say, that's not ideal.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Can The Trade Desk turn things around? The Trade Desk's stock peaked on Dec. 6, 2024, and is now down more than 91% from that level. No single reason explains Trade Desk's struggles; it's a combination of factors. Most notably, they include declining revenue growth (with expectations that it will turn negative); competition from big tech companies such as Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Platforms; and a recent 15% reduction in its global workforce.

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The company faces an uphill battle, as many corporations cut back on ad budgets. However, all hope isn't lost if management can execute its turnaround plans. The Trade Desk still has a solid footprint in Connected TV that it can lean on to maintain an edge.

That said, I wouldn't touch the stock right now. I'd rather wait to see revenue reaccelerate and proof that its internal changes are driving real business results.

Stefon Walters has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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.

Explore the exciting world of The Trade Desk (TTD -0.39%) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities!
*Stock prices used were the prices of Aug. 12, 2026. The video was published on Sep. 24, 2026.

Anand Chokkavelu has positions in The Trade Desk. Jason Hall has positions in The Trade Desk and has the following options: long September 2026 $25 calls on The Trade Desk and short January 2028 $25 puts on The Trade Desk. Tyler Crowe has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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 - Free Report) closed at $14.27 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.55% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.14%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.61%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.69%.

The digital-advertising platform operator's stock has climbed by 7.02% in the past month, exceeding the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 1.69% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.85%.

The upcoming earnings release of The Trade Desk will be of great interest to investors. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.27, down 40% from the prior-year quarter. 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.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $1.22 per share and a revenue of $2.84 billion, indicating changes of -31.07% and -1.98%, respectively, from the former year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for The Trade Desk should also be noted by investors. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 3.29% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Currently, The Trade Desk is carrying a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that The Trade Desk has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.35 right now. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 15.73.

It is also worth noting that TTD currently has a PEG ratio of 0.7. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Internet - Services industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.52.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 184, placing it within the bottom 26% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow TTD in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

Key Takeaways AMZN's ad revenues rose 26% to $19.8B in Q2, while TTD's revenue growth slowed to 3%.TTD sees CTV and overseas growth, but macro pressure and execution gaps cloud near-term visibility.AMZN pairs ad momentum with AWS and retail scale, though $220B in 2026 capex may pressure free cash flow. Both The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) and Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) are expected to gain from momentum in the digital advertising space, given their pivotal roles in the programmatic advertising ecosystem. According to a Precedence Research report, the global digital advertising market is expected to witness a CAGR of 13.2% from 2026 to 2035.

TTD operates a pure-play demand-side platform (“DSP”) that helps advertisers focus on data-driven ads. Amazon, on the other hand, is an e-commerce and cloud giant with advertising quickly becoming one of its key revenue drivers.

Both firms have sizeable exposure to the booming connected TV (“CTV”) and retail media trends. Despite their shared tailwinds, Trade Desk and Amazon represent very different investment profiles.

Understanding the strengths, weaknesses and risk-reward dynamics of each is essential for determining which stock may be the better pick right now.

TTD: Plenty of ChallengesThe 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.

The competitive environment is also intensifying. Walled gardens like Meta Platforms, Alphabet and AMZN offer fierce competition in this space as they control their inventory and first-party user data, allowing for highly targeted ad campaigns.  

Despite 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 in both EMEA and APAC increased more than 50% year over year, showing that adoption is broadening beyond the United States.

The company is also 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

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’s deeper relationships with major advertisers represent another positive. The company had 217 clients with Joint Business Plans as of the second quarter, up 38% year over year.

AMZN: An Established Giant With Increasing Ad FocusAmazon’s advertising business has gradually emerged as a strong contender in the digital advertising space, leveraging its first-party data. Advertising revenues jumped 26% year over year to $19.8 billion in the second quarter of 2026, with Sponsored Products remaining its key growth driver. AMZN’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. Amazon is also witnessing continued growth and engagement in Prime Video ads and live sports, with inventory across the NBA, WNBA, Thursday Night Football and NASCAR selling out. On the last earnings call, management noted that brands advertising across multiple sports achieved 2.3 times higher unduplicated reach than single-sport advertisers.

The company is strengthening its advertising capabilities through AI-powered tools such as Ads Agent, which reduces campaign setup and targeting time. The growing adoption of Amazon’s AI-powered shopping experiences could further strengthen its proposition. Management noted that shoppers clicking a sponsored prompt converted to a sale 48% more often and spent 21% more on average than shoppers who did not.

The company recently 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.

Ads are still a relatively small share of Amazon’s total revenue base compared with retail and AWS, meaning ample room to scale. That said, competition in CTV and DSP remains intense, and as Amazon ramps up, Trade Desk faces growing pressure to defend its share.

Second-quarter total revenues rose 20% year over year to $200.6 billion, while operating income increased 43% to $27.5 billion. AWS remains a powerful growth engine, with revenues rising 36.7% to $42.2 billion and operating income reaching $16.6 billion in the quarter. AMZN’s diversification across e-commerce, AWS/cloud, advertising and broad AI investments, with stupendous financial resources, gives it an edge and reduces reliance on one segment. As of June 30, 2026, cash and cash equivalents were $78.2 billion, while the long-term debt was $128.9 billion.

However, Amazon’s aggressive investment strategy carries risks. The company now expects approximately $220 billion in cash capital expenditures in 2026, largely reflecting investments tied to AI and AWS capacity expansion. Management acknowledged that the heavy data-center buildout will pressure free cash flow in the near term before those assets are fully monetized. Amazon also faces intense competition across digital advertising from Alphabet, Meta and other major platforms.

Share Performance & Valuation for TTD & AMZNYear to date, TTD’s share price is down 60.5% while AMZN stock is up 7.6%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

TTD’s shares are trading at a forward 12-month price/earnings ratio of 12.48X, lower than AMZN’s 21.99X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

How Does the Zacks Consensus Estimate Compare for TTD & AMZN?Analysts have revised their estimates downward for TTD’s bottom line for the current year in the past 60 days.     

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

For AMZN, the estimates are up 46.4% for the current fiscal year in the same period.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

TTD or AMZN: Which Is a Smarter Pick?While TTD carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) at present, AMZN has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of the Zacks Rank, AMZN appears to be a better pick now.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Trade Desk, a leading global advertising technology company, today announced expanded integrations with healthcare analytics and measurement providers Veeva Crossix and IQVIA Digital. The enhancements give pharma advertisers more granular insights into campaign performance and new ways to apply those insights to media optimization and decisioning. Pharma analytics has traditionally focused on evaluating campaign effectiveness and identifying optimization opportuni.

The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) closed at $14.33 in the latest trading session, marking a +2.54% move from the prior day. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.86%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.98%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.96%.

Shares of the digital-advertising platform operator have depreciated by 4.05% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 0.56%, and the S&P 500's loss of 1.96%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of The Trade Desk in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $0.26, showcasing a 42.22% downward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $650.67 million, reflecting a 12% fall from the equivalent quarter last year.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $1.22 per share and revenue of $2.86 billion, indicating changes of -31.07% and -1.36%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for The Trade Desk. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 16.71% lower. The Trade Desk presently features a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

In terms of valuation, The Trade Desk is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 11.42. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.96, so one might conclude that The Trade Desk is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that TTD has a PEG ratio of 0.65. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Internet - Services industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.48 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 200, positioning it in the bottom 19% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in 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.

The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) has been one of the most searched-for stocks on Zacks.com lately. So, you might want to look at some of the facts that could shape the stock's performance in the near term.

Shares of this digital-advertising platform operator have returned +3.4% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -0.4% change. The Zacks Internet - Services industry, to which The Trade Desk belongs, has lost 4.7% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?

While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.

Earnings Estimate RevisionsHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.

We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

For the current quarter, The Trade Desk is expected to post earnings of $0.26 per share, indicating a change of -42.2% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed -31.6% over the last 30 days.

The consensus earnings estimate of $1.22 for the current fiscal year indicates a year-over-year change of -31.1%. This estimate has changed -23.2% over the last 30 days.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $1.22 indicates a change of -0.1% from what The Trade Desk is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed -15.1%.

Having a strong externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, The Trade Desk is rated Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

Projected Revenue GrowthEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.

For The Trade Desk, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $650.67 million indicates a year-over-year change of -12%. For the current and next fiscal years, $2.86 billion and $2.83 billion estimates indicate -1.4% and -0.9% changes, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryThe Trade Desk reported revenues of $715.06 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +3%. EPS of $0.34 for the same period compares with $0.41 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $751.58 million, the reported revenues represent a surprise of -4.86%. The EPS surprise was -17.07%.

Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed EPS estimates just once. The company topped consensus revenue estimates three times over this period.

ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.

Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.

As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

The Trade Desk is graded B on this front, indicating that it is trading at a discount to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

Bottom LineThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about The Trade Desk. However, its Zacks Rank #4 does suggest that it may underperform the broader market in the near term.

Shares of The Trade Desk (TTD -4.37%) took a dive on Friday. The stock dipped as much as 5.7% near noon ET. As of this writing at 3:22 p.m. ET, it had recovered slightly to a 4.7% drop.

The marketing automation expert shook investors with a brief SEC filing, announcing a reorganization with a significant headcount reduction.

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The Trade Desk trims its workforce The Trade Desk will remove approximately 15% of its roughly 3,850 employees from the payroll. The process should be largely completed in the third quarter of 2026, which ends on Sept. 30. The next quarterly report will show restructuring charges between $39 million and $51 million, offset by nearly $5 million in unvested stock-based compensation awards canceled.

According to the filing, The Trade Desk is taking these steps to refocus on high-priority growth opportunities and tighten up its operations.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

What's missing from this filing As a longtime shareholder, I'm not a fan of this restructuring. Let me count the ways:

These announcements typically highlight the expected cost savings. The Trade Desk said nothing about lower expenses, other than the forfeited stock awards. This is a good opportunity to shake up the company's leadership. The Trade Desk has made many missteps at the executive level in recent years; as a direct result, the stock is down 73% over the past 52 weeks. There's nothing about C-suite changes in the SEC filing, and the handful of recent executive changes will stand. Good news gets a proper press release with management comments. This was a bare-bones financial filing, boiled down to the simple facts. The restructuring has all the downsides of a sharp cost-cutting move but none of the upsides -- as far as I can tell, anyway. The company may provide more details over the coming weeks, and November's Q3 earnings call just became a must-see event.

Anders Bylund has positions in The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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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.

Read next

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

Layoffs

Trade Desk Unveils Major Restructuring Summary

The restructuring is expected to cost up to $51 million but could help the company improve cost discipline over time

The Trade Desk ( TTD ) climbed about 3% in early trading Friday after the digital advertising company disclosed plans to eliminate roughly 15% of its workforce as part of a restructuring program.

The job reductions are expected to be largely completed during the third quarter of 2026. Management expects the changes to result in cash expenses of approximately $39 million to $51 million, mainly covering severance and employee benefits.

Some of that amount could be recovered through a $4 million to $5 million reversal in stock-based compensation costs. The company expects to record the restructuring accrual in the third quarter.

The Trade Desk also noted that the final cost could differ from its current estimate. Additional expenses may arise as the workforce plan is carried out.

The initial share-price reaction suggests investors may see the restructuring as a move toward better cost discipline, although the charges will weigh on near-term results.

Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.

Click for the complete disclosure

LoopMe Brand Lift is now available through a direct API integration with The Trade Desk Measurement Marketplace.

LONDON & NEW YORK & SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LoopMe, the global leader in brand performance, has today announced a new integration with The Trade Desk’s Measurement Marketplace, bringing its patented Brand Lift measurement directly to The Trade Desk customers, giving advertisers a consistent and scalable way to measure brand impact across markets, all within their existing campaign workflow.

Brand lift measurement is often underserved or simply unavailable. Where it does exist, minimum campaign requirements can put it out of reach for smaller campaigns and markets. And for advertisers measuring across multiple regions, working with different vendors and methodologies can make it difficult to build a consistent view of performance. As a result, global brands can measure some of their activity, some of the time, but getting a comparable view of brand impact across markets remains a challenge.

LoopMe Brand Lift within The Trade Desk is designed to remove some of the barriers that have traditionally made global brand measurement difficult to scale:

Measure consistently across markets: Run standardized brand lift measurement across 35+ markets and 17 languages, creating a more comparable view of global campaign performance. Measure more campaigns: Studies can be feasible from just 1 million impressions, compared with provider minimums of 3-4 million impressions in many markets, making smaller campaigns and markets more easily measurable. See results while campaigns are still running: Lift data is updated every 24 hours directly within The Trade Desk’s dashboard, beginning as early as 10 days after launch, with reporting across age, gender, device, creative, ad group and campaign ID. Keep measurement within your existing workflow: Book studies during standard campaign setup in The Trade Desk, with no separate contracting or additional platform required. “In many markets, brand lift measurement is simply not an option for advertisers,” commented Matthew Deets, VP Demand Partnerships at LoopMe. “If it is available, it rarely allows the scope of measurement needed to truly understand results across regions. Our partnership with The Trade Desk helps address these challenges, providing the rigorous standards needed to trust uplift data, while remaining lightweight and scalable enough to be actionable across multiple regions at once. We’re proud to deliver these capabilities in partnership with The Trade Desk team.”

Donny Spano, Director, Data Partnerships at The Trade Desk, added: “We remain committed to advancing the industry by providing advertisers with sophisticated tools and capabilities, particularly within our global infrastructure. We are pleased to extend LoopMe’s international reach and scalability to a broader range of clients and global campaigns.”

LoopMe Brand Lift measures real consumers rather than recruited panels, surveying users within voluntary mobile ad breaks. Control groups are matched using LoopMe’s patented RISA algorithm across 100+ variables, helping advertisers understand the incremental impact of their campaigns with statistically rigorous measurement.

Through the direct API integration, advertisers can set up and launch their study without leaving The Trade Desk. Study parameters are passed directly to LoopMe, where measurement is deployed and results are fed back into The Trade Desk dashboard, eliminating separate logins, accounts and reporting workflows.

About LoopMe

LoopMe is the global leader in brand performance, redefining brand advertising for the digital and app ecosystem. LoopMe was the first to apply AI to brand advertising and its Intelligent Marketplace, finding solutions to industry challenges that haven’t previously been solved. With consumer insights and AI at its core, LoopMe makes brand advertising better, outperforming industry benchmarks for leading global brands. Our vision is to change advertising for the better, by building technology that will redefine brand advertising. LoopMe was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in the UK, with global offices across New York, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Dnipro, Krakow, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.loopme.ai.

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.

VENTURA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Trade Desk, a leading global advertising technology company, today introduced Kokai Zuma, the new release of its Kokai platform. Introduced in 2023, Kokai is The Trade Desk's platform for planning, buying and measuring advertising across the open internet. The Zuma release makes Kokai easier to navigate, learn and use, bringing together new agentic AI capabilities and a simpler measurement framework. As advertising becomes increasingly fragmented across cha.

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.

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.

Jay R. Grant, the Chief Legal Officer of The Trade Desk, Inc. (TTD +0.89%), reported the disposition of 13,355 shares of Class A Common Stock on August 15, 2026, according to a recent SEC Form 4 filing.

Transaction summaryMetricValueShares sold13,355Transaction value~$188,840Post-transaction shares (directly held)334,466Post-transaction value$4.5 millionTransaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average sale price ($14.14).

Key questionsWas this a discretionary market sale?
No, the disposition was executed as a non-discretionary withholding of shares to cover tax liabilities arising from the partial vesting of Restricted Stock Awards, a routine feature of institutional equity compensation structures.What remains of the insider's equity position?
Grant maintains direct ownership of ~334,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, representing a 0.0711% stake in the company with a market value of $4.5 million as of the August 17, 2026 market close.What does the vesting schedule indicate about future activity?
The filing discloses that the withheld shares originated from awards granted across four consecutive years (2023–2026), suggesting that similar non-discretionary tax-related dispositions may occur as subsequent tranches of these awards vest.Company OverviewMetricValueShare Price (as of market close 2026-08-17)$13.40Market Capitalization$6.3 billionRevenue (TTM)$3.0 billionNet Income (TTM)$406.9 millionCompany SnapshotThe Trade Desk operates a self-service, cloud-based advertising platform that enables clients to create, manage, and optimize data-driven digital ad campaigns across multiple formats including display, video, audio, native, and social media channels.The company generates revenue primarily through its software-as-a-service platform, which allows advertising buyers to efficiently reach audiences across computers, mobile devices, and connected TVs, supplemented by data services and value-added offerings.The Trade Desk serves advertising buyers and agencies as primary customers, targeting organizations seeking to optimize their digital advertising spend through programmatic, data-driven campaign management across diverse media channels.The Trade Desk is a global technology leader in programmatic advertising with a market cap of $6.3 billion and trailing 12-month revenue of $3 billion, demonstrating significant scale in the digital advertising technology sector. The company's cloud-based platform provides a comprehensive solution for managing complex, multi-channel advertising campaigns, positioning it as a critical infrastructure provider for the digital marketing ecosystem.

With a net profit margin of 13.6% (based on trailing 12-month net income of $406.9 million), The Trade Desk exhibits strong operational efficiency and profitability while maintaining its competitive advantage through continuous platform innovation and expansion across emerging advertising channels.

What this transaction means for investorsChief Legal Officer Jay Grant's Aug. 15 sale of The Trade Desk stock came just days after shares plunged to a 52-week low of $12.83 on Aug. 10. That said, the disposition does not reflect the insider's view on the stock.

It was a non-discretionary transaction executed to satisfy tax obligations resulting from the vesting of equity awards. Grant retained 334,466 directly held shares post-sale, which demonstrates his continued alignment with shareholder interests.

The Trade Desk's stock fell a massive 64% in 2026 through Aug. 19 due to decelerating revenue growth. Through the first six months of 2026, the ad tech giant produced sales of $1.4 billion, representing a 7% year-over-year increase. That's down substantially from the 22% year-over-year growth posted through the same period in 2025.

Even worse, The Trade Desk forecasted third-quarter revenue to reach at least $650 million. That's a drop from the $739 million it achieved in Q3 of 2025 in a sign the company is now struggling to grow.

Robert Izquierdo has positions in The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.