The Trade Desk jumps 16% on profit beat, $700M buyback program
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The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) jumped 16% out of Wednesday's market open after beating profit expectations with its fourth-quarter earnings and announcing a $700M share buyback program.
Revenues grew 24% to $491M, a record, mostly in line with expectations.
Thanks to some heavily trimmed operating expenses (down 7%), though, the company swung to an operating gain of $100.2M from a year-ago loss of $25.4M. And net income jumped to $71.2M from a prior-year $8M. (Non-GAAP net income dipped to $190M from $208M.)
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization jumped to $245M from $192M, with that margin rising to 50% from 48%.
For the full year, the company grew cash and equivalents to just over $1B from $754.2M.
It's guiding to first-quarter revenue of at least $363M (vs. consensus for $362.8M) and EBITDA of about $78M.
"This performance was underscored by significant profitability and cash flow," said CEO Jeff Green. "In an unpredictable macro environment, our growing relationships with agencies and brands is testament to the value of the open Internet over the limitations of walled gardens."
The company also approved a share repurchase program with authorization to buy back up to $700M in Class A common stock, designed to offset the impact of dilution from employee stock issuances.
It expects to fund the buyback with cash on hand and short-term investments, which amounted to $1.447B as of Dec. 31.