- Trade Desk delivered a decisive beat. The ad-tech company earned 33 cents a share on an adjusted basis on revenue of $736 million in the third quarter, topping the 25 cents and $650 million expected by analysts polled by LSEG, and its shares jumped as much as 19% after the report, according to CNBC.
- The outlook was the bigger surprise. Trade Desk said it sees fourth-quarter revenue of at least $755 million, trouncing the $650 million estimate, and its guidance for adjusted EBITDA in the current quarter also came in sharply above estimates, CNBC reported.
- Sanmina also won on guidance. The electronics manufacturing services provider soared 20% in extended trading after guiding full-year earnings to $15.50 to $17.50 a share, above the $14.07 FactSet consensus, with a revenue forecast of $17.5 billion to $19.5 billion versus the $16.61 billion consensus.
- Other earnings movers were mixed. Plug Power rose 4% after revenue of $200.6 million topped the $198.4 million FactSet consensus and it broke even against an expected 7-cent loss, while Rocket Lab slid about 3% on a wider-than-expected loss and Lucid Group shed more than 3% after missing on revenue.
What Happened?
Trade Desk reported after Monday’s close, leading CNBC’s list of the biggest after-hours movers. Rocket Lab lost 12 cents a share against a 7-cent FactSet estimate, although revenue of $267.8 million beat the $257.2 million expected. Lucid reported revenue of $350.3 million against the LSEG consensus of $407 million and a loss of $2.74 a share, wider than the $2.28 analysts sought. Plug Power reaffirmed its full-year guidance for revenue growth of 15% to 16%. The reports landed after a regular session in which AI infrastructure names rebounded from last week’s selling, which had pushed the Nasdaq Composite into correction territory.
Why It Matters?
For Trade Desk, the reaction shows how much the outlook mattered: revenue cleared the consensus by a wide margin, and fourth-quarter guidance at least $105 million above estimates by our calculation suggests the improvement is not a one-off. The sharply higher EBITDA guide also suggests the stronger top line is expected to carry through to profits. Across the after-hours tape, guidance drove the biggest moves, rewarding Sanmina’s above-consensus outlook while punishing Rocket Lab’s wider-than-expected loss. The pattern shows investors are paying for forward visibility at a time when last week’s sell-off has left them wary of stretched expectations.
What’s Next?
Trade Desk’s fourth-quarter report will test whether the at-least-$755 million guide proves conservative, and investors will watch whether advertiser budgets hold up through the holiday season. For Sanmina, the focus shifts to whether it can deliver at the top end of its wide guidance range. Rocket Lab must improve on an adjusted EBITDA outlook of negative $14 million to $20 million, worse than the negative $10.9 million FactSet consensus, while Lucid needs to close the gap between its revenue and Wall Street’s expectations.
Affected Tickers and Coins: TTD, SANM, PLUG, RKLB, LCID
Source: CNBC
