The stock of advertising technology firm The Trade Desk continues to face significant downward pressure. A fresh round of layoffs announced on December 17, 2025, has pushed the equity toward its lowest point in a year. Concurrent selling by a major institutional investor has added to the bearish sentiment surrounding the shares.
Strategic Shifts and Investor Retreat
In its second organizational restructuring within twelve months, The Trade Desk is eliminating 39 positions. This figure represents less than 1% of its global workforce of approximately 3,900. The move comes almost exactly one year after Chief Executive Jeff Green initiated what was described at the time as the company’s “largest restructuring” in December 2024.
Market observers have noted the timing of the announcement just before the holiday period, particularly as the company onboarded nearly 1,000 new employees throughout 2025, including many in leadership roles. This repeated restructuring has led to questions about the firm’s strategic consistency.
Adding to the headwinds, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans significantly reduced its stake. The investment firm sold 52,805 shares during the second quarter, cutting its position by 31.1%. It now holds 117,197 shares valued at roughly $8.4 million. Institutional investors collectively control 67.77% of the company’s shares.
Wall Street’s Cautious Stance
Analyst coverage remains mixed but shows a trend toward increased caution. Among tracked firms, 21 recommend buying the shares, 12 suggest holding, and three advise selling. The average price target stands at $76.56, which is more than double the current trading level.
Recent revisions, however, highlight growing concerns:
* Argus Research lowered its target to $37, maintaining a Hold rating.
* Analysts at Jefferies set a $40 price target with a Hold recommendation.
* Wells Fargo reduced its target from $53 to $47 per share.
* Truist Financial adjusted its target downward from $100 to $85.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying The Trade Desk?
Operational Performance Shows Resilience
Despite the market pessimism, The Trade Desk’s underlying business metrics demonstrate strength. For the third quarter of 2025, revenue reached $739.43 million, a 17.7% year-over-year increase. Earnings per share came in at $0.45, slightly surpassing expectations.
Management provided fourth-quarter guidance projecting revenue of at least $840 million and approximately $375 million in adjusted EBITDA. In a sign of confidence in its balance sheet, the company’s board authorized a new $500 million share repurchase program, sufficient to buy back up to 2.1% of outstanding shares. The firm also reported a client retention rate exceeding 95% for an eleventh consecutive quarter.
The company’s AI-powered platform, Kokai, now handles over 85% of customer ad spend. According to management, Kokai delivers a 26% improvement in cost per acquisition and achieves click-through rates 94% higher than its predecessor platform, Solimar.
Competitive Landscape Intensifies
A major challenge stems from heightened competition, particularly from Amazon. The e-commerce giant is aggressively expanding its demand-side platform and directly challenging The Trade Desk in the lucrative connected-TV advertising space. A recent programmatic partnership between Amazon and Netflix provides advertisers with direct access to premium streaming inventory, potentially creating a strategic disadvantage for independent platforms like The Trade Desk.
In response, The Trade Desk is emphasizing its OpenPath initiative, which aims to optimize the digital advertising supply chain. The company reports that OpenPath has grown by “many hundreds of percentage points” this year. Publishing partners, such as Hearst Newspapers, have reported a quadrupling of fill rates and a 23% increase in revenue using the solution.
While operational progress is evident, the stock remains under substantial selling pressure. Investors are now watching closely to see if strategic investments and the new share buyback program can catalyze a reversal in the equity’s trajectory.
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