Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Sep 25, 2026
Trade Desk, Inc. (TTD)
A forensic read on Trade Desk, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
A · High-quality
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
4.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
16.1
P / E (ttm)
17.8%
ROE
$6.0B
Market cap
18.5%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern, valuation). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Trade Desk, Inc. earns an A (High-quality) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
176% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $1.4B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 176% of free cash flow. That is $597M (76%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. It came out of the balance sheet's own liquid holdings, not new debt: cash and short-term investments fell $618M over FY2025. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $491M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 239%.
+14.5%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +14.5% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by PP&E up +90% against revenue +18% and receivables up +13% against revenue +18%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 32% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 14.5%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$2.90B
Revenue Growth YoY+18.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+22.0%
Net Margin15.3%
Free Cash Flow$783.0M
Return on Equity17.8%
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Trade Desk, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?