TTD vs APPS Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
TTD (The Trade Desk) is the world's largest independent programmatic advertising DSP, benefiting from CTV growth and the post-cookie identity transition, while APPS (Digital Turbine) is a mobile app delivery and advertising technology company that has faced significant execution challenges following its acquisition strategy. These companies serve different sides of the digital advertising ecosystem.
TTD vs APPS contrasts the leading independent programmatic advertising demand-side platform against a mobile app delivery and advertising technology company with a more complex strategic position.
APPS holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. APPS leads on both 1-year return (+99.63%) and forward P/E quality (12.43x vs 14.62x for TTD), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, APPS is growing revenue faster (26.80%), while TTD maintains the higher operating margin (14.21%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for APPS (+45.36%) than for TTD (-8.00%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want the leading independent programmatic advertising platform benefiting from CTV ad spend growth and cookie deprecation
- Value The Trade Desk's independence from media company conflicts of interest as the preferred agency DSP
- See Kokai AI and UID2 as strategic positioning for the post-cookie, AI-optimized programmatic advertising environment
- See value in Digital Turbine's unique carrier and OEM app delivery distribution channel that bypasses app stores
- Believe the AdColony and Fyber advertising acquisitions will eventually integrate and generate expected synergies
- Want a contrarian mobile advertising technology bet at a significantly depressed valuation following execution disappointments
| Metric | TTD | APPS |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 38.3 | 53.6 |
| AI ranki | #1399 | #331 |
| Latest closei | $13.92 | $10.66 |
| 1M returni | +2.81% | -5.08% |
| 6M returni | -42.26% | +241.67% |
| 1Y returni | -68.31% | +99.63% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | TTD | APPS |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $3.13K (-68.7%) started 2025-09-19 | $19.96K (+99.6%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | $2K (-80.0%) started 2021-09-20 | $1.69K (-83.1%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $46.25K (+362.5%) started 2016-09-21 | $82K (+720.0%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | TTD | APPS |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $6.84B | $1.43B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 17.32 | N/A |
| Forward P/Ei | 14.62 | 12.43 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 1.81 | 2.90 |
| Analyst targeti | $13.39 | $17.17 |
| Target upsidei | -8.00% | +45.36% |
| Metric | TTD | APPS |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 3.00% | 26.80% |
| Earnings growthi | -23.60% | N/A |
| EPS growthi | -23.60% | N/A |
| FCF margini | +19.50% | +4.82% |
| Operating margini | 14.21% | 13.89% |
| Profit margini | 13.61% | -5.82% |
| ROIC proxyi | 15.44% | -20.39% |
| Return on equityi | 15.44% | -20.39% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 1.04 | 2.88 |
| Debt/equityi | 16.86 | 186.83 |
| Current ratioi | 1.72 | 1.21 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.68 | 1.12 |
Over the past year, TTD and APPS have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.16), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | TTD | APPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -68.70% | +99.63% |
| CAGRi | -68.82% | +99.72% | |
| Volatilityi | 56.41% | 98.20% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -1.86 | 1.11 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -2.42 | 2.17 | |
| Max drawdowni | 75.93% | 61.32% | |
| Current drawdowni | 74.28% | 25.92% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 46.55% | 28.32% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 51.87% | 33.36% | |
| Max daily dropi | 21.90% | 14.13% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 29.89% | 23.02% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | -80.03% | -83.12% |
| CAGRi | -27.57% | -29.97% | |
| Volatilityi | 67.78% | 111.85% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.20 | 0.15 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.29 | 0.26 | |
| Max drawdowni | 90.66% | 98.68% | |
| Current drawdowni | 90.02% | 88.34% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 43.50% | 84.78% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 50.10% | 87.12% | |
| Max daily dropi | 38.61% | 44.75% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 42.53% | 58.15% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +362.46% | +720.00% |
| CAGRi | +16.56% | +23.43% | |
| Volatilityi | 68.32% | 94.41% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.50 | 0.62 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.76 | 1.04 | |
| Max drawdowni | 90.66% | 98.72% | |
| Current drawdowni | 90.02% | 88.75% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 28.90% | 52.64% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 37.70% | 64.46% | |
| Max daily dropi | 38.61% | 44.75% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 42.53% | 58.15% |
| Category | TTD | APPS |
|---|---|---|
| Company | The Trade Desk, Inc. | Digital Turbine, Inc. |
| Sector | Communication Services | Technology |
| Industry | Advertising Agencies | Software - Application |
| Core business | The Trade Desk operates the world's largest independent demand-side platform (DSP), enabling advertising agencies and brands to purchase digital advertising programmatically across connected TV, display, video, audio, and mobile channels through real-time automated auctions. | Digital Turbine operates a mobile app delivery platform that installs apps directly onto Android smartphones through carrier and OEM partnerships, bypassing the app store with carrier-sponsored app preloads, and provides mobile advertising through its AdColony acquisition. |
| Investor focus | Investors track The Trade Desk's revenue growth, customer retention, take rate, and the strategic positioning of its Kokai AI platform and UID2 first-party identity solution as third-party cookies are deprecated. | Investors track Digital Turbine's app delivery revenue, advertising revenue from its AdColony and Fyber acquisitions, and the integration of its mobile stack as the company works toward sustainable profitability. |
- Independence from major media companies makes The Trade Desk the preferred DSP for agencies that don't want to place media buys through a platform competing with them (Google DV360)
- Kokai AI platform uses machine learning to optimize campaign performance across channels including the fast-growing connected TV market
- UID2 (Unified ID 2.0) initiative addresses the post-cookie identity challenge by providing an open, privacy-preserving identity solution across the open internet
- OEM and carrier partnerships for app preloading provide a unique distribution channel for app developers that bypasses Google Play and Apple App Store discovery barriers
- Single Tap technology enables users to complete app downloads with a single tap in ads, improving mobile app install conversion rates
- Advertising technology acquisitions (AdColony, Fyber) added mobile video and in-app programmatic advertising capabilities
- Google's deprecation of third-party cookies in Chrome creates uncertainty for programmatic advertising identity and targeting — The Trade Desk's UID2 is a proposed solution but its adoption is not guaranteed
- Competition from Google DV360 and Amazon DSP in programmatic advertising — The Trade Desk's independence is a key differentiator but large integrated platforms have cost advantages
- CTV advertising growth is a major opportunity but The Trade Desk depends on streaming services and publishers maintaining open programmatic access to their inventory
- Revenue has disappointed following acquisitions as integration challenges and mobile advertising market headwinds created worse-than-expected results
- Dependence on carrier and OEM partnerships for app delivery creates customer concentration risk
- Mobile advertising market is highly competitive with large platforms (Google, Meta, AppLovin) commanding most mobile advertising budget
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