Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.36 EPS

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

Direct Digital Stock Down 39.5 %

NASDAQ:DRCT opened at $16.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $228.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.57 and a beta of 8.14. Direct Digital has a 1 year low of $1.96 and a 1 year high of $35.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $18.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Direct Digital

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Direct Digital by 335.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 94,748 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Direct Digital by 162.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 110,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 68,315 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in Direct Digital by 146.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 28,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 17,095 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp bought a new position in Direct Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Direct Digital by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 9,980 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 4.02% of the company’s stock.

About Direct Digital

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.