Out Fox The $treet

  The Trade Desk has dropped from over $140 to below $50 due to fears of an ad market slowdown and reduced growth targets. The digital ad platform only has a fraction of a nearly $1 trillion ad market providing huge growth opportunities for the years ahead. The stock is more attractive at 22x EPS targets, but the business is going through a rough patch elevating short-term risks. The Trade Desk, Inc.  ( NASDAQ: TTD ) has slumped due to fears of an ad market slowdown while the company has previously pulled back from aggressive growth targets. The digital ad platform now trades at a more reasonable  stock valuation after falling from over $140 to below $50. My investment thesis is more Bullish on the stock while looking for a bottom on the falling knife. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Update - Jan. 17 Huge month from Roblox  with bookings in Dec. up nearly 20%. The stock was a buy in the $20s, but Roblox gets fully priced in the upper $30s.  -Roblox shares surged almost 14% Tuesday as investors responded positively to the gaming platform company's strong December results. -Prior to the start of trading, Roblox said that in December it had 61.5M daily average users [DAU], up 18% from the same month in 2021, while engaged hours of users climbed 21% from a year ago, to 4.7B hours. -Roblox said its revenue continued to show the effect of a strengthening U.S. dollar against currencies such as the British pound and the euro. In addition to its overall revenue being impacted by currency levels, Roblox (RBLX) said its average bookings were between $6.99 and $7.14 per daily user, which, depending on final results either slipped by 1% or rose as much as 1% from December 2021. -Total bookings for the month were strong, as Roblox said bookings came in between $430...

AT&T launched their rebranded digital ad business. Xandr is only estimated at 3% of the total revenue base. Any success of Xandr provides upside to my previous $40 base case target. The business is off to a troubling start with AppNexus CEO leaving. Last week,   AT&T   ( T ) ushered in the aggressive move into advertising. The wireless giant hopes to more effectively compete in the advertising sector against the tech giants by collecting more data from customers via various video and wireless connections. Unfortunately, the   newly created Xandr   is more likely to resemble the failure of Oath from   Verizon Communications ( VZ ). Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long T. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.   

Amazon stands to benefit from growing digital ad revenue. Research reports support the digital ad market sustaining strong growth for the next few years. The online retail giant doesn't offer the best way to invest in ad market growth due to substantial retail operations. My biggest complaint that guides my  investment thesis  on  Amazon  ( AMZN ) is a lack of focus on running a profitable businesses. The thesis isn't exactly unique, but one area that provides an opportunity to change the equation is digital advertising leading Citibank to upgrade the stock with an incredible price target of $1,600. The numbers though aren't adding up to buying the stock for this reason. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary Stock split raises corporate governance issues. Stock could lose momentum with investors inclined to trim shares after long run. Unforeseen threats could hit the stock similar to MasterCard. Next week, Google ( GOOG ) plans to finally split its stock nearly two years after announcing the original plan. After a relentless run beyond $1,000, the stock is actually being split for an unrelated reason that brings up corporate governance concerns. Even the market cap reaching $376 billion and annual sales expected to reach over $70 billion this year, Google remains a fast growing technology leader. The company still obtains the majority of revenue from online search even though it continues to attempt diversification into mobile operating software and wearable devices amongst other far-flung operations. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

It's rare to see a technology company, much less one involved in advertising, to so predominantly display a focus on scientists. In the case of  Rocket Fuel ( NASDAQ: FUEL     )  , the ad tech firm that recently had a spectacular IPO focuses on using artificial intelligence, or AI, and big data to drive predictive modeling and automated decision-making. In essence, the company believes that sophisticated machines can optimize business outcomes for advertisers as the digital world moves at the speed of light. The company focuses on programmatic buying via real-time bidding, or RTB. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long FUEL. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.