The Trade Desk Increases IPO Price Range

September 19, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

The Trade Desk has been a pending initial public offering (IPO) for a while now. An amended filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission has been filed by the advertising technology platform. It appears that the IPO price range has just been raised, ahead of this week’s pricing and initial trading.

The Trade Desk is selling 4,666,667 shares of its Class A common stock. Selling shareholders are also selling up to 700,000 shares of Class A common stock. As always seen in IPOs, the company will not be receive any proceeds from the sale of any shares of Class A common stock by the selling stockholders.

As for the new price range, it has been raised to between $16.00 and $18.00 per share of Class A common stock. Its prior price range had been $14.00 to $16.00.

Monday’s SEC filing from The Trade Desk listed five firms in the underwriting syndicate: Citigroup, Jefferies, RBC Capital Markets, Needham and Raymond James.

Investors might want to know what exactly a technology platform for ad buyers really means. Here is a condensed statement of how the company describes itself:

Ad buyers are able to share their customized messages and ideas with the people and in the context they deliberately choose… Our mission is to help our clients compete in the marketplace of ideas—the place in media and public discourse where ideas and messages compete in the open market for the mindshare of men and women around the world… Our platform makes media monetization more effective. Instead of disrupting the foundation of media and advertising, we enable it. By offering compelling improvements in effectiveness, efficiency and reporting, we aim to change media and advertising globally.

The Trade Desk’s SEC filing noted that the company has grown faster than the programmatic market. With $552.3 million in gross ad spending in 2015, its own counted revenue was $113.8 million in 2015. That represents a growth rate of 156% over $44.5 million in 2014, while the overall programmatic advertising spending in the industry grew from $10 billion to $14 billion (per Magna Global data).

Net income was $15.9 million in 2015, up from $5,000 in 2014. The company generated $5.7 million of Adjusted EBITDA in 2014 and $39.2 million in 2015. As for its first half of 2016 versus 2015, the company said:

Our net income was $5.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and $6.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2016. Our Adjusted EBITDA was $11.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and $20.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2016.

As of the weekend, this IPO was expected to price on Tuesday evening for a Wednesday IPO. That may change slightly, but as of now The Trade Desk is coming with a higher prices rather a lower price.

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