Analysts at Loop Capital initiated coverage of The Trade Desk Inc . (NASDAQ:TTD) with a Buy rating and $95 Price Target on the shares, calling the company "one of the best long-term growth opportunities available to technology and media investors today."
In their initiation note, the analysts emphasize the bigger picture evolution of the advertising industry with "several axes of technological changes...enabling advanced targeting, measurability, transparency and ultimately efficacy of budget deployment." They believe the sector could be "entering a 'holy grail' period...driven by data and technology."
As such, the analysts note that Trade Desk "is enabling much of this change across the open internet to serve ad buyers while also driving monetization gains for Internet publishers whose ARPU severely lags the major walled garden platforms."
The company's neutral standing, and "technology advancement and standardization efforts," lead "brands, agencies and other partners to trust (Trade Desk) more than massive walled gardens, which often have competing interests." Loop Capital models a long-term "serviceable TAM somewhere around 90x larger than total gross spending on the Trade Desk platform."
The analysts admit that "the stock is not undiscovered and carries among the highest valuation," but they nonetheless see "a very significant growth runway and illustrate the bull case with potential for a +$400B market cap over the very long term (10 to 17 years)."
They view any "pull-back on any expectations miss as a buying opportunity," as they initiated coverage with a Buy rating and $95 Price Target on shares, implying over 30% upside from yesterday's closing price of $73.64.