• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 2, 2023

Influential New Street Research analyst Dan Salmon this morning upgraded his rating for The Trade Desk's stock to "neutral" from "sell," citing a variety of factors including an easing up of big advertisers' digital ad "pauses," as well as expectations that it ultimately will gain access to trading Netflix's coveted advertising inventory.

"We expect most of those pauses will have resumed, and largely be spent during the seasonally strong holiday season," Salmon said referring to reported pauses of ad spending on Meta platforms, Snapchat and Amazon due to unrest in the Middle East.

"We think most of it will return and be spent," Salmon said in his upgrade, which was released ahead of next week's The Trade Desk earnings call.

Salmon was less sanguine that The Trade Desk might soon gain access to Netflix ad inventory, noting, "the most important factor driving this decision is Netflix's growth of ad inventory to sell. There is little need to open to new demand sources when a platform is supply constrained."

However, he speculated Netflix might make that move following next summer's upfront advertising deals are concluded.