Repeatedly during 2020 and 2021, the Nasdaq stock market has been able to find ways to overcome doubts and help send key benchmarks ever higher. That was the case this week, as declines on Monday gave way to a winning streak that sent the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.52%) higher on the week.
Plenty of stocks deserve to share the credit for the Nasdaq's big win this week, but a couple truly stood out on Friday. With big gains to finish the week, The Trade Desk (TTD 0.85%) and Roku (ROKU 1.91%) are showing that the rise of connected television -- and the advertising that goes along with it -- could play a pivotal role in growth for the media and entertainment industry.
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Trading up
Shares of The Trade Desk were up 9.5% on Friday. That wasn't an all-time high for the programmatic advertising pioneer, but it was enough to push the stock to its best level since The Trade Desk did its 10-for-1 stock split just over a month ago.
The Trade Desk got a vote of confidence from a Wall Street stock analyst at Stephens, which upgraded the stock from equal weight to overweight. Stephens also boosted its price target on The Trade Desk by $15 per share, setting a new $85 target.
The argument Stephens made isn't all that new, saying simply that The Trade Desk has established itself as the leader in demand-side programmatic advertising and will therefore be able to take advantage of the opportunities that its leadership will open up. Even though the stock trades at a hefty multiple of earnings and sales, Stephens pointed to the rise of connected TV as a key growth driver that could justify The Trade Desk's rich valuations.
Investors have been increasingly interested in The Trade Desk as a way to capitalize on shifting trends in the advertising market. As the economy rebounds, so too should interest from ad buyers looking for the best way to market their goods and services -- all to The Trade Desk's benefit.
Getting a clear picture of the future
Rising even further were shares of Roku, which jumped almost 13% on Friday. Interestingly, the streaming television company benefited at least in part from the same analyst that pitched its upgrade for The Trade Desk.
As The Trade Desk continues to get more and more interest from advertisers for connected TV inventory, Roku stands to be one of the biggest winners from the trend. Roku has taken the connected television industry by storm, aggregating the rising number of streaming video services and reaping rewards both from the hardware that allows people to watch connected TV and the underlying platform that brings all the content people want together.
Moreover, Roku hasn't seen any signs that viewers are tiring of its programming. Even though vaccination programs have spurred more people to return to activities outside their homes, Roku hasn't seen streaming hours drop off yet. Moreover, the tens of millions of Roku accounts haven't shown any signs of giving up their service or moving away to other forms of entertainment.
The Nasdaq's rally relies on favorable trends in key areas like technology, media, and entertainment to keep up momentum. As long as The Trade Desk and Roku can keep wowing investors, they'll make the Nasdaq's job in sustaining the bull market a whole lot easier.
