Analysts Get Very Positive on Trade Desk for Programmatic Ad Market Post-IPO

By Jon C. Ogg Updated Jan 13, 2:18AM EST · Published Oct 17, 11:40AM EDT

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Analysts Get Very Positive on Trade Desk for Programmatic Ad Market Post-IPO — © Thinkstock

Trade Desk Inc. (NASDAQ: TTD) was one of the better performing initial public offerings (IPO) of 2016. The September 21 IPO priced at $18.00 per share, and the post-IPO trading range has been nowhere close to the IPO price. Now we have seen the quiet period expire for Trade Desk, and most analysts are still calling for even more upside ahead.

24/7 Wall St. is looking at what each research firm in the underwriting syndicate has issued coverage as. The stock closed at $30.10 on the first day of trading, and the post-IPO trading high has been $33.40.

There may be other calls in the coming days, but so far we have seen mostly positive analyst coverage now that the quiet period has ended. Interestingly enough, all this additional upside for the programmatic advertising company has failed to generate additional excitement in the trading response.

Citigroup, Jefferies and RBC were listed as the joint book-running managers for Trade Desk’s IPO. Needham and Raymond James were listed as its co-managers. A release on September 26 confirmed that the 700,000 shares in the overallotment option were exercised in full.

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Citigroup started coverage on Trade Desk with a Buy rating and with a $31 price target.
Jefferies started coverage with a Buy rating and it issued a $35 price target.
Needham & Co. started coverage with a Buy rating and it assigned a $32 price target.
Raymond James started coverage with a Buy rating and a $31 price target.
RBC Capital Markets started coverage as Outperform with a $33 price target.

As a reminder, a filing with the SEC last week showed that Fidelity Management now holds a 14.75% passive stake in Trade Desk.

Prior to the quiet period ending. we did see an independent research call. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage as Buy and the stock was given a $30 price target then.

Also outside of the underwriting syndicate, Susquehanna issued a Positive rating on September 22. What should stand out here is that its price target at the time was $40.

The post-analyst trading has so far only brought a $0.14 gain to $26.50 on Monday. That post-IPO range is $23.50 to $33.40.

If we add up all these price targets for a live consensus analyst price target, that would be a target of $33.14, but if we back out the independent analyst coverage and just took a consensus analyst target price from the underwriting syndicate, it would be a modified consensus analyst target price of $32.40.

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.