Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.36), Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $41.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.02 million. Direct Digital had a net margin of 1.26% and a return on equity of 48.38%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.01 EPS. Direct Digital updated its FY 2024 guidance to EPS.

Direct Digital Stock Down 39.5 %

DRCT stock opened at $16.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $228.89 million, a PE ratio of 114.57 and a beta of 8.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. Direct Digital has a one year low of $1.96 and a one year high of $35.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $18.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DRCT. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Direct Digital by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 3,966 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Direct Digital by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 33,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 4,267 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG acquired a new stake in shares of Direct Digital in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Direct Digital in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Direct Digital by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,031,000 after buying an additional 13,431 shares during the last quarter. 4.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on DRCT shares. TheStreet lowered Direct Digital from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Noble Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Direct Digital in a report on Wednesday. Benchmark reduced their target price on Direct Digital from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Roth Mkm reduced their target price on Direct Digital from $27.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Direct Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.83.

Direct Digital Company Profile

Direct Digital Holdings, Inc operates as an end-to-end full-service programmatic advertising platform. The company's platform primarily focuses on providing advertising technology, data-driven campaign optimization, and other solutions to underserved and less efficient markets on both the buy- and sell-side of the digital advertising ecosystem.