The Trade Desk vs Ziff Davis
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The short version
- The Trade Desk is the larger business, with $2.9B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.5B for Ziff Davis, about 2.0 times as much.
- The Trade Desk grew revenue faster (18.5%, against 3.5%).
- The Trade Desk kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (20.4% operating margin, against 12.6%).
- The Trade Desk turned more of its sales into free cash flow (27.5% FCF margin, against 19.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of The Trade Desk’s earnings: a P/E of 15.7x against 3.3x for Ziff Davis.
| Latest fiscal year | TTD · FY25 | ZD · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $6.1B | $2.1B |
| Revenue | $2.9B | $1.5B |
| Free cash flow | $796M | $288M |
| Net income | $443M | $47.4M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 18.5% | 3.5% |
| 5-year growth | 28.2% | 4.6% |
| Share count change | −1.7% | −7.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 78.6% | 85.8% |
| Operating margin | 20.4% | 12.6% |
| Net margin | 15.3% | 3.3% |
| FCF margin | 27.5% | 19.8% |
| Return on capital | — | 6.0% |
| Return on equity | 16.3% | 2.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | — | $260M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | — | 0.6x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.4B | $174M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 15.7x | 3.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | — | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
TTD $203M
ZD $874M
FY17
TTD $308M
ZD $1.1B
FY18
TTD $477M
ZD $1.2B
FY19
TTD $661M
ZD $1.1B
FY20
TTD $836M
ZD $1.2B
FY21
TTD $1.2B
ZD $1.4B
FY22
TTD $1.6B
ZD $1.4B
FY23
TTD $1.9B
ZD $1.4B
FY24
TTD $2.4B
ZD $1.4B
FY25
TTD $2.9B
ZD $1.5B
TTD
ZD
Operating margin
FY16
TTD 28.3%
ZD 27.8%
FY17
TTD 22.5%
ZD 22.0%
FY18
TTD 22.5%
ZD 20.2%
FY19
TTD 17.0%
ZD 8.4%
FY20
TTD 17.3%
ZD 11.9%
FY21
TTD 10.4%
ZD 11.8%
FY22
TTD 7.2%
ZD 14.3%
FY23
TTD 10.3%
ZD 9.7%
FY24
TTD 17.5%
ZD 8.1%
FY25
TTD 20.4%
ZD 12.6%
TTD
ZD
Free cash flow
FY16
TTD $68.2M
ZD $258M
FY17
TTD $21.1M
ZD $225M
FY18
TTD $66.8M
ZD $345M
FY19
TTD $24.5M
ZD $342M
FY20
TTD $331M
ZD $388M
FY21
TTD $324M
ZD $403M
FY22
TTD $465M
ZD $230M
FY23
TTD $552M
ZD $211M
FY24
TTD $641M
ZD $284M
FY25
TTD $796M
ZD $288M
TTD
ZD
Return on capital
FY16
TTD —
ZD 13.8%
FY17
TTD —
ZD 11.2%
FY18
TTD —
ZD 10.4%
FY19
TTD —
ZD 3.3%
FY20
TTD —
ZD 2.9%
FY21
TTD —
ZD 7.1%
FY22
TTD —
ZD 5.2%
FY23
TTD —
ZD 4.2%
FY24
TTD —
ZD 2.9%
FY25
TTD —
ZD 6.0%
TTD
ZD
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.