Looking back on advertising software stocks' Q4 earnings, we examine this quarter's best and worst performers, including PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM) and its peers.
The digital advertising market is large, growing and becoming more diverse, both in terms of audiences and media. This as a result drives a growing need for a software that enables advertisers to use data to automate and optimize ad placements.
The 6 advertising software stocks we track reported a weaker Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 1.42%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 0.74% under consensus. Tech stocks have been under pressure as inflation makes their long-dated profits less valuable, but advertising software stocks held their ground better than others, with the share prices up 9.04% since the previous earnings results, on average.
Weakest Q4: PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM)
Founded in 2006, as an online ad platform focused on ad sellers, Pubmatic (NASDAQ: PUBM) is a fully integrated cloud-based programmatic advertising platform.
PubMatic reported revenues of $74.3 million, down 1.67% year on year, missing analyst expectations by 3.07%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with slow revenue growth and underwhelming guidance for the next quarter.
“We continued to organically outpace the global digital ad market forecasts, with total revenue in 2022 up 13% over last year. Our estimated market share at the end of 2022 rose to 4-4.5%, significantly up from when we went public just over two years ago. As the ecosystem grows more complex, we believe the need for greater efficiency is driving publishers and buyers toward independent platform providers like PubMatic to help them better compete,” said Rajeev Goel, co-founder and CEO at PubMatic.
PubMatic delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates of the whole group. The stock is down 12.1% since the results and currently trades at $13.33.
Read our full report on PubMatic here, it's free.
Best Q4: Zeta (NYSE:ZETA)
Co-Founded by former Apple CEO, John Scully, Zeta Global (NYSE:ZETA) provides software and data analytics tools that help companies market their products to billions of customers.
Zeta reported revenues of $175.1 million, up 29.9% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 9.06%. It was a decent quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analyst estimates but underwhelming guidance for the next year.
Zeta pulled off the strongest analyst estimates beat, fastest revenue growth, and highest full year guidance raise among its peers. The stock is up 11% since the results and currently trades at $10.06.
Is now the time to buy Zeta? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
LiveRamp (NYSE:RAMP)
Started in 2011 as a spin-out of RapLeaf, LiveRamp (NYSE:RAMP) provides software as a service that helps companies better target their marketing by merging offline and online data about their customers.
LiveRamp reported revenues of $158.6 million, up 12.8% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weak quarter for the company, with a decline in net revenue retention rate and decelerating customer growth.
LiveRamp had the weakest full year guidance update in the group. The company added 2 enterprise customers paying more than $1m annually to a total of 94. The stock is down 14.3% since the results and currently trades at $23.33.
Read our full analysis of LiveRamp's results here.
The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD)
Founded by former Microsoft engineers Jeff Green and Dave Pickles, The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) offers cloud-based software that uses data to help advertisers better plan, place and target their online ads.
The Trade Desk reported revenues of $490.7 million, up 24% year on year, missing analyst expectations by 0.22%. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a meaningful improvement in gross margin but a miss of the top line analyst estimates.
The stock is up 16.7% since the results and currently trades at $58.28.
Read our full, actionable report on The Trade Desk here, it's free.
DoubleVerify (NYSE:DV)
When Oren Netzer saw a digital ad for US-based Target while sitting in his Tel Aviv apartment, he knew there was an unsolved problem, so he started DoubleVerify (NYSE: DV), a provider of advertising solutions to businesses that helps with ad verification, fraud prevention, and brand safety.
DoubleVerify reported revenues of $133.6 million, up 26.6% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. Despite the stock rising on the results, it was a slower quarter for the company, with underwhelming guidance for the next year.
The stock is up 17% since the results and currently trades at $30.42.
Read our full, actionable report on DoubleVerify here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned