Oppenheimer: Trade Desk Shares Unduly Punished For Possible Cookie Restrictions By Google

Shares of Trade Desk Inc (NASDAQ: TTD) have nosedived 12 percent since Friday morning amid investor concern over Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) possibly considering restrictions on third-party ad targeting on Chrome.

The investor reaction appears overblown given the company’s solid fundamentals, according to Oppenheimer.

The Analyst

Oppenheimer’s Brian Schwartz maintained an Outperform rating on Trade Desk with an unchanged $210 price target.

The Thesis

Adweek reported Friday that Google was considering restrictions on cookie tracking in Chrome, similar to what Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has done for its Safari browser, Schwartz said in a Wednesday note.

The pressure on Trade Desk’s stock appears excessive, and higher estimates will lend upside to its share price, the analyst said. 

Trade Desk’s Safari desktop revenue continued to grow when Apple enacted similar restrictions in the past, Schwartz said. Moreover, the company’s key growth drivers — ConnectedTV, mobile and China — are strengthening and do not use browser cookies, he said. 

Trade Desk's fundamentals are solid and it is executing wel, the analyst said, adding that its business momentum continued to be strong in the first quarter. 

Price Action

Shares of Trade Desk plummeted from above $200 to close trading at $186.94 Tuesday. The stock was down 0.37 percent at $186.24 at the time of publication Wednesday. 

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