New York, Feb 27, 2026, 07:32 EST — Premarket
- The Trade Desk shares were lower ahead of Friday’s open, after a sharp selloff tied to its near-term outlook.
- Wall Street is reworking models after the company’s Q1 forecast and a run of target cuts.
- Investors are also watching broader risk sentiment into U.S. inflation data.
The Trade Desk (TTD) shares slipped 0.7% to $23.78 in premarket trading on Friday. 1
The stock ended Thursday down 4.81% at $23.95, after swinging between $24.33 and $21.08 as volume surged past 50 million shares. 2
The pressure has followed a cautious first-quarter outlook and a fresh analyst downgrade, after the shares slid about 16% in after-hours trading immediately after the results. 3
The broader tape has not helped. U.S. stock futures dipped on Friday with tech shares still skittish, and investors waiting for U.S. producer prices due before the bell. 4
The ad-tech company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $847 million and full-year revenue of $2.896 billion, and posted non-GAAP earnings of 59 cents a share for the quarter, a filing showed. CEO Jeff Green said the company “executed against a backdrop of macro uncertainty,” and the board approved an extra $350 million for repurchases, lifting total remaining authorization to $500 million. It forecast first-quarter revenue of at least $678 million and adjusted EBITDA — a profit measure that strips out items such as stock-based pay — of about $195 million. 5
Loop Capital cut Trade Desk to Hold from Buy and slashed its price target to $25 from $75, while Rosenblatt’s Barton Crockett kept a Buy rating but reduced his target to $36, Benzinga reported. 6
New Street analyst Dan Salmon downgraded the stock to Sell with a $17 target, Barron’s reported. MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson stayed Neutral and called the company’s Q1 revenue guide “not great, but not a train wreck.” 7
Trade Desk runs a demand-side platform, or DSP — software advertisers use to buy digital ad space across channels including streaming TV. Traders have been trying to pin down whether the latest wobble is mostly macro, or a sign that ad budgets are shifting faster to bigger platforms.
But the downside case is easy to sketch: if big brand categories stay soft and margins keep compressing, investors may keep pushing out any “re-acceleration” story, buyback or not.
Next up, investors will look for the next clean read on demand in the March quarter — with some earnings calendars listing May 13 as the next report date — and for any near-term signals from the ad market as March begins. 8
