Trade Desk Brings Ad Veteran Penry Price Onto Board, Stock Gets a Bump

Get Trade Desk Inc - Class A Alerts

Weekly insights + SMS alerts

The Trade Desk Inc. (TTD) shares got a nice lift Monday, climbing more than 3% after the company announced it had added advertising industry veteran Penry Price to its board of directors.

Price isn't exactly a stranger to the ad world. He spent years as vice president of Marketing Solutions at LinkedIn and before that was vice president of Agency Sales at Google. That kind of experience — spanning both the tech giants and the nitty-gritty of ad sales — is exactly what Trade Desk needs as it pushes deeper into artificial intelligence and tries to hold its ground in an increasingly competitive digital ad market.

Investors seemed to agree. The stock rose even as the broader market had a rough day: the Nasdaq fell 1.10% and the S&P 500 lost 0.29%. Sometimes a little company-specific news can overpower the macro gloom.

Technical Analysis

Let's talk charts. Trade Desk is trying to build a floor near its 52-week low of $16.98. Monday's move pushed the stock back above its 20-day simple moving average of $18.78, which is a decent short-term signal. Momentum is improving — the MACD is above its signal line, and the histogram is positive, suggesting selling pressure is easing.

But let's not get carried away. The longer-term picture is still pretty ugly. The stock is trading 35.7% below its 200-day moving average of $31.55, and over the past 12 months it's down a gut-wrenching 73.06%. The 20-day average is still below the 50-day, and the 50-day is below the 200-day — that's the classic bearish alignment. The next resistance level to watch is around $23.50, while key support sits near $17.00, close to that 52-week low.

Earnings and Analyst Outlook

Trade Desk is set to report second-quarter results on August 6. Wall Street is looking for earnings of 37 cents per share, down from 41 cents a year ago. Revenue is expected to come in at $750 million, up from about $690 million in the same quarter last year.

Analysts are still mostly bullish. The stock carries a consensus Buy rating with an average price target of $29.79. Recent moves include:

HSBC upgraded the stock to Hold on July 8 with a $20 price target.
Rothschild & Co. initiated coverage with a Sell rating and an $11 price target on May 28.
DA Davidson maintained its Buy rating on May 11 but lowered its price target to $29.

So there's a range of opinions, but the average still points to upside from current levels.

MarketDash Edge Rankings

MarketDash Edge gives Trade Desk a Momentum score of 2.68 — not great, reflecting that weak longer-term trend. But the Quality score is 10.12, Value is 69.07, and Growth is 86.82. That growth score is a reminder that investors still expect big things down the road, even if the stock has been in a rough patch.

ETF Exposure

Trade Desk is a notable holding in a couple of ETFs. It makes up about 5.15% of the SmartETFs Advertising and Marketing Technology ETF (MRAD) and about 2.72% of the First Trust S&P 500 Diversified Free Cash Flow ETF (FCFY). Big inflows or outflows from those funds can move the stock, so it's worth keeping an eye on them.