By Angela Palumbo
The Trade Desk stock was dropping Wednesday after two analysts downgraded the stock following an advertising company's decision to stop recommending the digital ad platform to customers.
French ad firm Publicis told Barron's that an independent auditor concluded that The Trade Desk did not pass an audit, and "as a result of the audit findings we will no longer be recommending The Trade Desk as a solution for our clients."
The Trade Desk said in a statement to Barron's that it was aware of questions related to a Publicis audit process, and "any notion that TTD failed an audit is not true. In this case, the request included asks for data that would violate customer and partner confidentiality agreements."
"We look forward to working with Publicis to provide workable alternatives to this particular request, including information at an even more granular level than requested," The Trade Desk added.
Publicis also said that "at no point in this process" did it ask for the disclosure of any data or information that went beyond the audit agreement in place with The Trade Desk.
The Trade Desk shares were falling 5.8% to $23.62.
Rosenblatt Securities analyst Barton Crockett downgraded shares of The Trade Desk to Neutral from Buy and cut his price target on the stock to $25 from $36 on Wednesday.
"It is possible for Publicis's recommendation to result in clients moving some activity to other DSPs [demand-side platform], such as Google's DV360, Amazon's DSP, and smaller DSP competitors, such as Viant. So this has potential to present a degree of headwind to TTD for a period of time," Crockett wrote.
Stifel analyst Mark Kelley also downgraded shares of The Trade Desk to Hold from Buy and slashed his price target to $26 from $48 following the report.
"While we do believe TTD remains the gold standard for digital ad buyers, and we imagine there will be some resolution with Publicis (this is likely a negotiating tactic for PUB), we struggle to find a clear catalyst that will begin to change investor perception to a more positive stance, which means shares are unlikely to work in the near-term," Kelley wrote.
The Trade Desk's stock has already been beaten down, falling 38% this year and 57% over the past 12 months. An executive shake-up spooked investors after the company announced in January that CFO Alex Kayyal resigned just five months into his tenure. The Trade Desk also provided disappointing revenue guidance in February.
Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 18, 2026 13:39 ET (17:39 GMT)
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