With Amazon's Ad Dominance Looming, Investor Anxiety Over Future Growth Sours Sentiment For The Trade Desk Stock

Shares of ad-tech firm Trade Desk Inc TTD are trading sharply lower Thursday afternoon, as recent results are being overshadowed by mounting concerns about future growth and competitive pressures.What To Know: The stock’s recent sell-off has occurred despite the company reporting second-quarter revenue of $694 million, comfortably beating analyst expectations of approximately $685 million. The company also provided an optimistic third-quarter revenue forecast of at least $717 million.Despite the earnings beat and robust customer retention of over 95%, investor sentiment soured due to a flurry of cautious analyst revisions. Bank of America led the pessimistic turn, downgrading the stock from a Buy to an Underperform rating and drastically cutting its price target from $130 to $55. Several other firms, including BMO Capital and Piper Sandler, also lowered their price targets, citing concerns about the sustainability of the company’s high growth rate and its premium valuation.The primary headwinds facing The Trade Desk this week are competitive threats posed by tech giants. Amazon.com Inc’s AMZN advertising division reported a 23% revenue surge to $15.68 billion, and its recent partnerships to sell ad inventory for companies like Roku amplify its market power.A Thursday report also indicated that Walmart Inc WMT may be distancing itself from The Trade Desk, further fueling investor anxiety. The combination of slowing growth, a CFO transition and intensified competition from dominant players has led investors to question the company’s long-term trajectory, sparking Thursday’s sharp decline.Benzinga Edge Rankings: According to Benzinga Edge stock rankings, The Trade Desk presents a sharply contrasting profile for investors. The company earns an exceptionally high score for Growth (92.28) and a strong score for Quality (68.12), reflecting its robust revenue expansion and solid financial health.However, these positive metrics are severely undermined by its other scores. A very low Value score of 19.09 indicates the stock is considered expensive relative to its fundamentals, a key concern highlighted by analysts. This is compounded by a dismal Momentum score of just 6.30, which quantifies the stock’s recent poor price performance and the significant negative sentiment driving the current sell-off.Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, The Trade Desk shares are trading lower by 7.24% to $50.43 Thursday afternoon. The stock has a 52-week high of $141.53 and a 52-week low of $42.96.Read Also: Amazon’s Grocery Delivery Expansion Seen As Game-Changer In $90-Billion Online Market OpportunityHow To Buy TTD StockBy now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Trade Desk – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.Image: Shutterstock