Has Trade Desk Stock Become A Different Bet? Trefis Team Thu, November 12, 2026 at 10:46 AM EST 4 min read TTD -1.06% ^GSPC +0.15% GOOG +2.01% AMZN +1.27% META -0.52% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
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Trade Desk (TTD) stock trades at 22.8 times earnings. That puts its valuation about level with the S&P 500 at 21.9, even though the company posted flat sales in fiscal Q3 2026. Shareholders paying that multiple are likely betting that growth comes back. They need to understand what they are buying, because the company's priorities have changed. On its fiscal Q3 2025 call, management described CTV, its connected-TV advertising, as its largest and fastest-growing channel. The company now emphasizes something else. So what is it?
Trade Desk Now Talks Up Its AI Agents
Management now pitches AI agents that set up and fine-tune ad campaigns, citing internal figures that show better results for advertisers. During the fiscal Q3 2026 call on November 9, 2026, management said it believes "agentic workflows can materially change the productivity of advertising teams." Trade Desk tested its upgraded AI model, Koa, across 62 campaigns. The model improved CPA, the cost an advertiser pays for each result, by a median of 21%.
AI itself is not new for management: in February 2026 it said it would discuss an agentic AI framework for partners, and in August 2026 it said it had added "tons of AI capabilities." What has changed is CTV. In August 2026, on the fiscal Q2 2026 call, management cited over 50% CTV growth in both EMEA and APAC. The company still discusses CTV. Management listed it alongside agentic AI and measurement among its highest return opportunities on the latest call, but executives no longer highlight CTV's growth.
Video Is Still The Biggest Channel
Video, which includes CTV, is still Trade Desk's biggest channel, at a low 50s percent share of the business in fiscal Q3 2026, management said. But video is not the fastest-growing channel: audio, around 7% of the business, posted much stronger growth than any other channel. A year ago, management's claim was about CTV alone, not all of video.
Growth has faded across the entire company. Trade Desk reported revenue of $736 million in fiscal Q3 2026, down 0.5% from a year earlier. That decline followed a 17.7% rise in fiscal Q3 2025, and growth slowed in every intervening quarter. With video representing about half of the business, Trade Desk's sales are hard to grow quickly unless video also grows.
Management also measures the AI tools by how clients use them. It said Koa optimizations are now switched on for 22% more strategies than before, and that more than 100 advertisers have tested Audience Unlimited, a tool that uses AI to find the audiences most likely to respond.
Should You Worry About Trade Desk's Results?
So far, the numbers give a holder more to worry about than to cheer, because the flat quarter had help from one-off and election-year business. Management said the fiscal Q3 2026 results beat its own outlook. That included a benefit to revenue of about 3 percentage points from business with a strategic partner that it does not expect to recur, and management said the business did better than it expected even without it.
Political advertising around the U.S. midterm elections provided additional support, representing a mid-single-digit share of the business. Management said that revenue in election years has historically fallen about 25% from the fourth quarter to the first, and told investors to keep that in mind for the first quarter of 2027.
The business does still make cash. Trade Desk generated $847 million in free cash flow over the twelve months to September 2026, up from $678 million a year earlier.
If video stalls and the AI tools do not bring in more spending, you own a company whose largest channel is no longer growing and whose new pitch is still measured in campaign results. Management's tests show the AI tools are achieving better results for advertisers. Whether video is still growing remains the open question. Trade Desk is expected to report in February 2027. Video's growth, CTV included, is the figure to watch then.
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