Trade Desk shares tumble 25% after Q1 earnings report

Shares of The Trade Desk tumbled 25% today after the company reported first-quarter earnings and announced a 10-for-1 stock split in June. The Trade Desk reported revenue of $220 million, beating consensus estimates of $217 million. The company also reported EBITDA of $70.5 million, up from $39 million a year ago, and EPS at $1.41 compared to a consensus estimate of $0.77. Despite that performance, the stock's performance reflects a wider worry among investors over whether publishers will accept The Trade Desk's advertiser identity replacement, as well as low opt-in rates from other identifying methods including Apple's Identifier for Advertisers, said Mark Zgutowicz, senior research analyst covering internet at Rosenblatt. "There’s been a buildup in terms of concerns in their ability to scale the platform," says Zgutowicz. He noted that consent rates for other third-party identifiers have fallen below expectations, worrying investors who see The Trade Desk's ability to dominate in online advertising as critical to the company's future. The ad tech company also used its call to announce a new publisher-centric feature in its advertising identifier Unified ID 2.0. The feature, named “Double Encryption for Publishers” lets publishers limit access to user data to certain advertisers or other publishers. DEP, which incorporates data from Unified ID 2.0, can be used within a publisher’s single sign-on process and can prevent middleman companies from accessing user data, ensuring the publisher does not inadvertently violate a user’s privacy. In its earnings call, the company also laid out a clearer vision of how Unified ID 2.0 will work. CEO Jeff Green said its single login tied to a user’s email will eliminate pop-ups and prompts warning users about third-party cookies and other advertising identifiers. “We just think that quid-pro-quo has never been explained very well,” said Green. The stock split is the first in the company’s history as a publicly traded company. The Trade Desk’s Class A common stock began trading publicly in 2016.

Trade Desk shares tumble 25% after Q1 earnings report

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