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

Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT) issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 1.26% and a return on equity of 48.38%. The business had revenue of $41.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.02 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. Direct Digital updated its FY 2024 guidance to EPS.

Direct Digital Stock Down 39.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ DRCT opened at $16.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $228.89 million, a P/E 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 1 year low of $1.96 and a 1 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on DRCT. Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of Direct Digital from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Roth Mkm reduced their target price on Direct Digital from $27.50 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. TheStreet downgraded Direct Digital from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Noble Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Direct Digital in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Direct Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Direct Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Direct Digital by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,031,000 after purchasing an additional 13,431 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 68,315 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Direct Digital by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 33,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 4,267 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Direct Digital by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 9,980 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp acquired a new position in Direct Digital in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other 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.