TTD vs AMZN: The Trade Desk vs Amazon Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
The Trade Desk is the leading independent open internet DSP enabling brands to advertise across the open web and streaming, while Amazon is building one of the world's largest advertising empires powered by purchase intent data across its marketplace, Prime Video, and owned properties. Amazon is the walled garden; Trade Desk is the open internet alternative.
TTD vs AMZN is independent open internet programmatic advertising versus the world's most commercially powerful walled garden advertising ecosystem — Trade Desk wins if brand advertisers diversify beyond Amazon's walled garden; Amazon wins if purchase intent data and Prime Video advertising sustain advertising market share growth.
AMZN holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. AMZN has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+9.91% vs -74.51%), though TTD has the better forward P/E setup (8.95x vs 24.81x for AMZN). Analyst consensus implies similar upside for both: +26.50% for TTD and +27.54% for AMZN.
- →want pure-play exposure to open internet and CTV programmatic advertising
- →believe brands will maintain open internet diversity rather than concentrating entirely in Amazon and Google walled gardens
- →prefer Trade Desk's independence from media ownership as a buyer-aligned trust advantage
- →want a more focused, smaller-cap advertising technology growth bet vs Amazon's diversified business
- →prefer the most commercially powerful advertising platform with purchase intent targeting from shopping data
- →value Prime Video advertising as a massive new streaming inventory being added to Amazon's ad ecosystem
- →want diversified exposure to AWS, e-commerce, and advertising without a pure-play advertising commitment
- →believe Amazon Advertising's first-party data advantages will sustain premium CPMs that brands cannot replicate through Trade Desk
| Metric | TTD | AMZN |
|---|---|---|
| AI score | 41.1 | 60.8 |
| AI rank | #1069 | #192 |
| Latest close | $19.23 | $247.31 |
| 1M return | -0.29% | +3.67% |
| 6M return | -47.90% | -0.03% |
| 1Y return | -74.51% | +9.91% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | TTD | AMZN |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $2.55K (-74.5%) started 2025-07-14 | $10.96K (+9.6%) started 2025-07-14 |
| 5Y ago | $2.61K (-73.9%) started 2021-07-14 | $13.43K (+34.3%) started 2021-07-14 |
| 10Y ago | $63.87K (+538.7%) started 2016-09-21 | $66.73K (+567.3%) started 2016-07-14 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | TTD | AMZN |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $9.04B | $2.64T |
| Trailing P/E | 21.85 | 29.31 |
| Forward P/E | 8.95 | 24.81 |
| Price/Sales | 3.04 | 3.49 |
| EV/Revenue | 2.80 | 3.68 |
| Analyst target | $24.32 | $312.91 |
| Target upside | +26.50% | +27.54% |
| Metric | TTD | AMZN |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 11.80% | 16.60% |
| Earnings growth | -20.00% | 74.80% |
| EPS growth | -20.00% | +74.80% |
| FCF margin | +19.17% | +1.32% |
| Operating margin | N/A | 13.14% |
| Profit margin | 14.57% | 12.22% |
| ROIC proxy | 16.74% | 24.29% |
| Return on equity | 16.74% | 24.29% |
| Dividend yield | 0.00% | N/A |
| Beta | 1.04 | 1.46 |
| Debt/equity | 17.26 | 53.30 |
| Current ratio | 1.68 | 1.18 |
| Quick ratio | 1.64 | 0.97 |
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | TTD | AMZN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growth | -74.51% | +9.58% |
| CAGR | -74.54% | +9.62% | |
| Sharpe ratio | -1.83 | 0.31 | |
| Max drawdown | 80.69% | 21.74% | |
| Max daily drop | 38.61% | 8.27% | |
| Max wkly drop | 42.53% | 14.09% | |
| 5Y | Growth | -73.89% | +34.35% |
| CAGR | -23.56% | +6.09% | |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.13 | 0.22 | |
| Max drawdown | 87.58% | 55.77% | |
| Max daily drop | 38.61% | 14.05% | |
| Max wkly drop | 42.53% | 20.35% | |
| 10Y | Growth | +538.70% | +567.32% |
| CAGR | +20.81% | +20.91% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.55 | 0.61 | |
| Max drawdown | 87.58% | 56.15% | |
| Max daily drop | 38.61% | 14.05% | |
| Max wkly drop | 42.53% | 20.35% |
| Category | TTD | AMZN |
|---|---|---|
| Company | The Trade Desk, Inc. | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| Sector | Technology | Consumer Cyclical |
| Industry | N/A | Internet Retail |
| Core business | Independent buy-side DSP for open internet programmatic advertising across CTV, audio, display, and mobile. Trade Desk does not own inventory and serves as an unbiased partner to ad buyers. | AWS, e-commerce, Amazon Advertising (3rd largest digital ad platform globally), Prime Video, and Alexa. Amazon Advertising grew to $56B+ revenue in 2024, monetizing Amazon's purchase intent data across search, display, and streaming video ads. |
| Investor focus | CTV advertising spend, UID2 identity solution, retail media network access, and operating margin. | AWS AI growth, advertising revenue expansion, Prime Video ad tier monetization, and e-commerce margin improvement. |
- →Independence from media inventory creates a genuine trusted-partner relationship with ad buyers who want unbiased optimization
- →CTV advertising is the fastest-growing digital ad channel — Trade Desk is the leading programmatic CTV buyer
- →Retail media partnerships with Walmart, Target, and Kroger give Trade Desk access to retail first-party data without owning walled gardens
- →Amazon Advertising's purchase intent data (what consumers are actively buying or shopping for) is the most commercially valuable targeting data in digital advertising
- →Prime Video advertising is a massive new streaming ad inventory source reaching 200M+ Prime members globally
- →Amazon DSP (Amazon's buy-side platform) competes directly with Trade Desk using Amazon's first-party shopping data as a targeting moat
- →Amazon Ads is a direct competitor and walled garden that bypasses Trade Desk when brands advertise on Amazon directly
- →Trade Desk does not control inventory — access to premium publisher inventory depends on publisher and SSP relationships
- →Macro economic slowdowns reduce brand advertising budgets, directly reducing Trade Desk's programmatic spend
- →Amazon Advertising's walled garden nature means Trade Desk's clients cannot access Amazon inventory through Trade Desk — a growing gap
- →Amazon's own DSP and advertising stack is growing rapidly, potentially displacing third-party DSPs for brands that advertise heavily on Amazon
- →AWS and advertising together represent enormous capital allocation demands that compete for resources
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