What happened
Shares of digital advertising platform The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD) soared as much as 40.2% on Friday after the company reported its first-quarter earnings. At the time of this writing, shares are up about 40%.
The stock is likely up because the company obliterated consensus analyst estimate for revenue and earnings per share, thanks to strong growth in mobile, video, connected TV, and audio channels. "The programmatic revolution continues to gain momentum," said CEO Jeff Green in a press release about the quarter's results.

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So what
Trade Desk reported first-quarter revenue of $85.7 million, up 61% year over year. On average, analysts were expecting revenue of just $73.2 million, representing 37% year-over-year growth. Trade Desk's non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) earnings per share were $0.34, up from $0.18 in the year-ago quarter and crushing the consensus analyst estimate for non-GAAP EPS of $0.10.
Spending on Trade Desk's platform for mobile ads increased 95% year over year, accounting for 42% of gross spending. Within its mobile channel, mobile video and in-app spending increased 160% and 110% year over, respectively.
Of its new channels, spending on audio increased 650% and connected TV spending surged more than 2,000% year over year.
Now what
With such a notable start to 2018, Trade Desk is raising its outlook for the year. The company is now guiding for revenue during the year to increase to at least $433 million. This is up from a previous outlook for full-year revenue of $403 million.
Management expects full-year adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) to climb to $133 million, up from previous guidance for $117 million. This would put Trade Desk's adjusted EBITDA margin at 30.5%, above previous guidance for an adjusted EBITDA margin of 29%.
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Daniel Sparks has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.