Trade Desk Reports Q4 Beat but Weak Revenue Outlook Drives Shares Down
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 1 hour ago
0mins
Should l Buy TTD?
Source: seekingalpha
- Earnings Beat: Trade Desk reported a top-and-bottom-line beat for Q4 2025, yet shares plummeted over 16% in premarket trading, indicating market concerns over a potential slowdown in future growth despite the positive earnings.
- Revenue Forecast Downgrade: The company anticipates revenue growth to decelerate to about 10% for the current quarter, a stark decline from the 25% growth reported in Q1 2025, highlighting the ongoing impact of macro uncertainty and consumer pressures on advertising spend.
- Increased Competitive Pressure: Analysts at Morgan Stanley noted that, in addition to headwinds from competition, particularly from Amazon, the CTV business is expected to grow less than 20%, suggesting limited market share gains in the near term, which further fuels investor anxiety.
- Analyst Rating Adjustments: Both Evercore ISI and RBC Capital Markets have lowered their price targets for Trade Desk, with Evercore cutting it from $42 to $30 and RBC from $65 to $40, reflecting a cautious outlook on the company's future growth prospects.
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Analyst Views on TTD
Wall Street analysts forecast TTD stock price to rise
28 Analyst Rating
15 Buy
12 Hold
1 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 25.160
Low
38.00
Averages
53.33
High
85.00
Current: 25.160
Low
38.00
Averages
53.33
High
85.00
About TTD
The Trade Desk, Inc. is a global advertising technology company. The Company offers a self-service, cloud-based ad-buying platform that empowers its clients to plan, manage, optimize and measure more expressive data-driven digital advertising campaigns. Its platform allows clients to execute integrated campaigns across ad formats and channels, including connected television (CTV) and other video, display, audio, and native, on a multitude of devices, such as televisions, streaming devices, mobile devices, computers and digital-out-of-home devices. Its platform’s integrations with inventory, publisher and data partners provide ad buyers reach and decisioning capabilities, and its enterprise application programming interfaces (APIs) enable its clients to customize and expand platform functionality. Its platform provides auto-optimization features that allow buyers to automate their campaigns and support them with computer-generated modeling and decision-making.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Strong Earnings: Trade Desk reported Q4 earnings of $0.59 per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.58, with quarterly sales reaching $846.79 million, up from $741.01 million year-over-year, indicating robust performance in the ad tech sector.
- Weak Guidance: Despite the strong Q4 results, Trade Desk expects Q1 revenue to exceed $678 million, falling short of the analyst estimate of $689.48 million, reflecting potential uncertainties in market demand that could impact future performance.
- Stock Price Decline: Following the disappointing guidance, Trade Desk shares fell 14.2% to $21.57 in pre-market trading, signaling investor concerns regarding future growth prospects.
- Analyst Rating Changes: Loop Capital downgraded Trade Desk from Buy to Hold, cutting the price target from $75 to $25, while Rosenblatt maintained a Buy rating but lowered the target from $53 to $36, indicating a divergence in market sentiment regarding the company's future outlook.
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- Weaker Revenue Outlook: The Trade Desk's forecast for Q1 2026 revenue exceeding $678 million falls short of the $689.48 million analyst estimate, dampening investor enthusiasm and leading to a stock decline.
- Earnings Snapshot: In Q4 2025, The Trade Desk reported earnings of 59 cents per share, beating consensus estimates by one cent; however, the weak revenue guidance has negatively impacted market confidence.
- Technical Analysis: Over the past 12 months, The Trade Desk's stock has declined by 65.26%, currently trading at $21.39, which is 22.4% below its 20-day SMA, indicating a strong bearish trend in both short and long-term perspectives.
- Analyst Rating Changes: While The Trade Desk's stock carries a Buy rating with a target price of $55.97, recent downgrades from firms like Loop Capital and Wedbush reflect growing concerns about the company's future performance.
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- Earnings Beat: Trade Desk reported a top-and-bottom-line beat for Q4 2025, yet shares plummeted over 16% in premarket trading, indicating market concerns over a potential slowdown in future growth despite the positive earnings.
- Revenue Forecast Downgrade: The company anticipates revenue growth to decelerate to about 10% for the current quarter, a stark decline from the 25% growth reported in Q1 2025, highlighting the ongoing impact of macro uncertainty and consumer pressures on advertising spend.
- Increased Competitive Pressure: Analysts at Morgan Stanley noted that, in addition to headwinds from competition, particularly from Amazon, the CTV business is expected to grow less than 20%, suggesting limited market share gains in the near term, which further fuels investor anxiety.
- Analyst Rating Adjustments: Both Evercore ISI and RBC Capital Markets have lowered their price targets for Trade Desk, with Evercore cutting it from $42 to $30 and RBC from $65 to $40, reflecting a cautious outlook on the company's future growth prospects.
See More









