New York, Feb 26, 2026, 11:59 EST — Regular session
- Shares slide roughly 5.5% by midday, paring back some of last night’s steep after-hours losses
- Company is looking for Q1 revenue of at least $678 million, with adjusted EBITDA landing somewhere around $195 million.
- New Street dropped TTD to Sell and trimmed its price target down to $17.
The Trade Desk dropped roughly 5.5%, changing hands at $23.78 by midday Thursday after a $25.16 close the previous session. Shares bounced between $21.08 and $24.33 during regular trading, and after the company released its outlook, the stock was recently off nearly 17% in after-hours action.
The Trade Desk stands out as a pure-play in programmatic advertising — that’s automated digital ad buying and selling — so its numbers tend to serve as a shorthand for how big brands are spending right now.
A misstep ripples out. Brands move their ad budgets quickly—options everywhere: ad-tech, or those giant publisher and retailer platforms, built and run in-house.
After the bell Wednesday, the Ventura, California-based company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $847 million with adjusted EBITDA landing at $400 million. Full-year revenue climbed to $2.896 billion. Looking ahead, the company projected at least $678 million in first-quarter revenue and roughly $195 million in adjusted EBITDA. CEO Jeff Green pointed to “a backdrop of macro uncertainty” as the team executed, while the board bumped its buyback authorization by $350 million—bringing the total available for repurchases to $500 million. The Trade Desk
Interim CFO Kenneil Davis told analysts the company’s first-quarter outlook takes a “prudent approach,” given that “visibility remains somewhat lower”—with consumer packaged goods standing out, and autos feeling it too, though not as much. He singled out medical health, technology, and business and finance as areas of strength. The firm’s pushing further on infrastructure, moving toward owned data centers while ramping up AI and machine learning capabilities. Investing.com
Wall Street didn’t mince words. Dan Salmon at New Street Research slashed his rating to sell, chopping the price target down to $17 from $35 after the company’s revenue guidance landed just under forecasts, Barron’s reported. The outlook was “not great, but not a train wreck,” said MoffettNathanson’s Michael Nathanson, according to the same report. Barron’s
The Trade Desk offers brands and agencies a way out of the so-called “walled gardens”—those closed platforms with tight grips on data and ad inventory. Rivals like Google and Amazon have ramped up their push into ad products, particularly in spots where marketers are demanding more precise measurement.
No lift from the wider market. Nvidia’s shares pulled back even after posting strong numbers, dragging both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq into the red, Reuters said. Trade Desk, too, fell sharply on its outlook.
The risk is hard to ignore now. That first-quarter revenue guide came with a safety net—management said “at least”—but if CPG and auto don’t bounce, results could easily hug the lower bound. Costs aren’t sitting still either, with infrastructure spending ticking higher.
Now, traders are eyeing big-brand categories for any hint of a thaw before the quarter wraps up on March 31. The focus: can the company clear that $678 million floor and hold the line on margins?
