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

Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.36), Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $41.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.02 million. Direct Digital had a return on equity of 48.38% and a net margin of 1.26%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.01 EPS. Direct Digital updated its FY 2024 guidance to EPS.

Direct Digital Stock Down 0.2 %

Direct Digital stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $16.01. The company had a trading volume of 126,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 270,330. Direct Digital has a 12 month low of $1.96 and a 12 month high of $35.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $18.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.00. The company has a market capitalization of $228.46 million, a PE ratio of 114.57 and a beta of 8.14.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Direct Digital

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Direct Digital by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 3,966 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Direct Digital by 14.8% in 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. UBS Group AG bought a new position in shares of Direct Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Direct Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $2,031,000 after purchasing an additional 13,431 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DRCT shares. Noble Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Direct Digital 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 report on Wednesday. TheStreet cut Direct Digital from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price objective on Direct Digital from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.83.

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.