Why Trade Desk Is Friday’s Biggest Earnings Winner

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 11, 11:46PM EST · Published May 11, 10:15AM EDT

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Why Trade Desk Is Friday’s Biggest Earnings Winner — © Tijana87 / Thinkstock

When Trade Desk Inc. (NASDAQ: TTD) released its first-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday, the company said that it had $0.34 in earnings per share (EPS) on $85.7 million in revenue. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for $0.10 in EPS on revenue of $73.23 million, and in the same period of last year, the company posted EPS of $0.18 and $53.35 million.

Trade Desk noted that customer retention during this quarter remained over 95%, as it has for the previous 17 quarters.

The company listed a few of its highlights from this quarter as follows:

Total Mobile spending (in-app, video and web) grew 95% year over year and increased to 42% of gross spending for the quarter, highlighting the growing scale and importance of this channel to advertisers.
Connected TV spending grew over 2,000% year over year.
Audio spending grew over 650% year over year.

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According to MarketWatch:

That massive increase in spending, as well as similar increases in connected-TV ad inventory, has created demand for automated methods of filling it, called “programmatic advertising” in ad-industry jargon. That is Trade Desk’s main business: buying ads for clients via programmatic tools.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, the company expects revenues of $103 million and adjusted EBITDA of $30 million. The consensus estimates are $0.39 in EPS on $94.96 million in revenue for the quarter.

On the books, Trade Desk’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $138.95 million at the end of the quarter, down from $155.95 million at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Jeff Green, founder and CEO of Trade Desk, commented:

The programmatic revolution continues to gain momentum. In the first quarter we surpassed even our own expectations. A steady stream of new brands and agencies joined our platform; we won additional spend from existing customers; and we developed closer relationships with the biggest brands in the world. For the quarter, revenue was $85.7 million, up 61% from a year ago and adjusted EBITDA increased 202% to $18.9 million. International growth was again exceptional. Much of our growth came in channels key to our business such as Mobile, Video, Connected TV, and Audio. Data spend in the month of March spiked to an all-time record. We continue to invest in technology infrastructure, product development, and international expansion. These areas of investment are critical to gaining additional market share. We expect the investments we are making now will help drive our next wave of growth in the coming years.

Shares of Trade Desk were last seen up about 34% at $70.65 on Friday, with a consensus analyst price target of $67.86 and a 52-week range of $40.70 to $70.84.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.