What happened
Shares of Magnite (MGNI 2.60%) soared on Thursday, and there's no clear catalyst to explain the move. There are a few reasons investors might be increasingly bullish about the company. But those fall short when it comes to explaining the move today. Nevertheless, Magnite stock was up 13% as of 2:45 p.m. EST.
So what
Magnite stock plummeted recently as Spruce Point Capital Management suggested the stock had 50% downside. But Susquehanna analyst Shyam Patil was quick to refute the downside risk, saying it was one of the best positioned companies in the connected-TV space, according to TheFly.com. That's a bullish note. But that's from Monday, so it doesn't really help explain today's move.
Image source: Getty Images.
Magnite management recently made a presentation at the Needham Growth Conference, reportedly saying it believes it will show year-over-year growth in the upcoming first and second quarters of 2021. Considering the merger that formed Magnite (Telaria and The Rubicon Project) is long in the rearview mirror, year-over-year growth is crucial if the company is going to live up to its growth-stock status. So this is good news as well. But again, the presentation was on Monday, not today.
Finally, some believe Magnite, which makes a platform that helps content publishers manage their advertising business, is going up today as a result of a short squeeze. While possible, that seems unlikely. According to Nasdaq, short interest in the stock has been decreasing over the past month. Furthermore, short interest is so low that it can be covered in under two days -- not really ripe short-squeeze territory.
Now what
I wish I could supply a more satisfying reason for why Magnite stock soared today. But sometimes that's just how it is. Day to day, stocks are impossible to predict. That's why, as an investor, I personally choose to incessantly focus on long-term business fundamentals.
In the short term, I recognize stocks can be volatile and defy logic. But long term, I expect consumers to keep shifting away from traditional TV toward connected TV, and I believe Magnite is well positioned here. As long as its business is capturing the upside from the secular shift in TV viewership, I'll be content to hang on and enjoy the ride.
