Is the sharp Friday slide in Trade Desk Inc. shares a buying opportunity — or a sign to be wary of advertising-exposed names this holiday season? Analysts were divided in the wake of the ad-technology company’s September-quarter earnings report, which brought a significantly weaker-than-expected outlook. The guidance miss was uncharacteristic for Trade Desk, which has only come up short with its revenue forecast one other time in the past five years, according to FactSet data.
The company found numerous defenders within the bull camp, with Evercore ISI’s Shweta Khajuria cheering a potential “buying opportunity for investors who have waited for a more reasonable entry point.” “We do not believe the company is facing any meaningful structural or fundamental challenges (take rate compression or share loss),” she wrote in a note to clients. “Management noted that starting in the second week of October, [Trade Desk] began to see cautiousness across advertisers in some verticals such as auto, consumer electronics, and [media and entertainment], which seems to be ‘transitory’ and since the first week of November the company has seen spend ‘stabilize.’” She has an outperform rating and $65 target price on the stock, which is off 16% in Friday trading. Read: Disney may be on the ‘precipice’ of real change for investors Needham’s Laura Martin similarly highlighted a chance for investors to buy the dip. “Since [T …
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