The Trade Desk beat Wall Street's lowered expectations on Monday, reporting third-quarter revenue of $736 million, comfortably above the $650 million floor it had set in August and the roughly $651 million analysts had expected. The result still marked the first year-on-year revenue decline since the advertising technology company listed in 2016, with sales down 0.5% from $739 million a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings came in at $0.33 a share, ahead of the $0.25 consensus, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation reached $266 million, far above the roughly $160 million the company had guided. Net income fell sharply to $38 million from $116 million a year earlier, after about $44 million of restructuring charges, mostly severance, and a tax provision equal to about 64% of pre-tax income.

Green says progress, but growth still below target

Co-founder and chief executive Jeff Green said the quarter showed "meaningful progress, with results well ahead of our expectations entering the quarter", but added that the company was "still operating below the level of growth we expect from ourselves". The Trade Desk cut about 15% of its global workforce during the quarter as part of a restructuring plan.

Political advertising helped the quarter. The company said the 2026 elections were its biggest political cycle yet, even though it was a midterm year rather than a presidential one, with political ads making up a mid-single-digit percentage of third-quarter revenue. The finance chief said he expected that share to rise slightly in the fourth quarter.

Fourth-quarter guidance beats consensus

For the fourth quarter, The Trade Desk guided revenue to at least $755 million and adjusted EBITDA to at least $280 million. That revenue outlook sits well above the roughly $688 million analysts had expected, although it would still be about 11% below the $847 million reported in the same period of 2025. The board also added $731 million to the share buyback programme, lifting the amount available to $1 billion.

The shares had already risen 15.5% to $14.93 during Monday's regular session, before the results were released, and rose by about a fifth in after-hours trading once the numbers were out. The stock remains far below its highs, having fallen sharply over the past year as growth slowed and competition in digital advertising intensified.

What to watch next

Investors will now watch whether the fourth quarter delivers the stabilisation management is pointing to. The company has said 2027 should be a year of stabilisation before growth resumes in 2028, and analysts will test that claim against the next set of results early next year. The buyback gives the company a tool to support the shares in the meantime, but the underlying question is whether revenue growth can return after a year in which sales have barely moved.