The stock market has been trying to put in a solid recovery after a particularly bad January for the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.10%). However, the latest financial report from Meta Platforms led to a big drop for the index in premarket trading on Thursday morning, with futures contracts down 323 points, or more than 2%, as of 8:30 a.m. ET.
Meta's news had some implications for programmatic advertising specialist The Trade Desk (TTD 3.35%), which saw its stock move lower in the premarket session. However, investors in T-Mobile US (TMUS 0.57%) got good news that lifted the share price. Let's look at both companies below to see what's moving their stocks.
Will Meta's Apple issues cost The Trade Desk, too?
Shares of The Trade Desk were down nearly 8% in premarket trading Thursday morning. The programmatic ad company doesn't release its quarterly results until later this month, but investors already fear that some of the issues that hurt Meta's performance could have an impact on The Trade Desk as well.
Image source: Getty Images.
Meta in part blamed Apple for its revenue shortfall, arguing that the adoption of the Apple App Tracking Transparency framework has made it harder for Meta and other advertisers to track users. As a result, Meta said it isn't serving ads that are as well tailored to their target audience as desired, and it hasn't been able to measure outcomes as efficiently as it did in the past.
Investors in The Trade Desk are used to seeing the stock fall in response to renewed issues like this, even though the company has been quite transparent in explaining why the measures aren't a huge deal. Back in June 2021, The Trade Desk's chief technology officer Dave Pickles explained why Apple's long list of identity protection improvements shouldn't worry marketers. One of the arguments is that the measures would have enough negative consequences that users wouldn't end up adopting them.
Meta's numbers suggest that Pickles might have been overly optimistic, and that's likely a factor in why The Trade Desk's shares are moving lower. Shareholders will get an answer in a couple of weeks when The Trade Desk announces its own financial results.
T-Mobile makes a connection
Meanwhile, shares of T-Mobile US were up almost 8% in premarket trading. The wireless carrier announced blockbuster results for the fourth quarter of 2021 that reassured investors that its prospects still look strong.
The latest customer numbers from T-Mobile were exemplary. The company had 1.8 million net customers added and 315,000 net accounts added during the quarter, with strong gains for both smartphone and high-speed internet service subscriptions. Figures exceeded T-Mobile's prior guidance and in several cases were the highest in the wireless telecom industry.
Financials weren't quite as strong but still satisfied shareholders. Revenue for the quarter was up 2% year over year to $20.8 billion, but net income fell by 44%. Still, earnings of $0.34 per share were higher than most had anticipated.
Moreover, T-Mobile's 2022 outlook inspired confidence. The integration of Sprint's business after its merger with T-Mobile is ahead of schedule, and the company expects postpaid net customer additions of 5 million to 5.5 million in 2022 to lead the industry for the eighth straight year. Merger synergies should fully offset merger-related costs, and free cash flow generation should rise 30% year over year.
The rise of 5G networks has created a competitive frenzy in the wireless arena, but T-Mobile has done well. Investors hope its success will continue both this year and beyond.
