Morgan Stanley says online ad company The Trade Desk is a top pick set to thrive in a stabilizing market for sales. The bank upgraded shares of The Trade Desk to overweight from equal-weight Thursday and raised its price target to $90 per share from $60. Morgan Stanley’s forecast equates to nearly 23% upside from the stock’s $73.26 close on Thursday. The stock has been on fire this year with a 63% gain. The company specializes in personalizing advertising for companies to appeal to their specific subset of customers. TTD YTD mountain Shares of The Trade Desk are up more than 63% from the start of 2023. Analyst Matthew Cost said the company is poised to benefit from growth in both ad-supported streaming as well as retail media. He also expects connected TV revenue to grow at a roughly 18% compounded annual growth rate through 2025. “As the leading independent demand-side platform (DSP), TTD is well positioned to benefit from both trends, as advertisers 1) shift dollars from traditional linear TV to streaming, and 2) leverage retailers’ customer data to run more effective/measurable ad campaigns,” Cost said, calling the company a “best-in-class” name. The Trade Desk would be a “pure play” to take advantage of the growth story in ad spending, Cost added, and eventually help the company gain a leading position amongst peers. “We believe TTD will be able leverage its position as an independent player to sign more retail media partners … and ultimately be a leader in offsite retail media advertising,” Cost said. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
