Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google has announced Privacy Sandbox, a multi-year initiative to build more private advertising solutions.
Google said these solutions will "limit sharing of user data with third parties and operate without cross-app identifiers, including advertising ID."
Roth Capital analyst Darren Aftahi points out that Google's news has shares of Digital Turbine Inc (NASDAQ:APPS) down in double-digit percentage. He thinks the initial reaction by investors is that this is "deja vu" of the Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) IDFA news and the subsequent impact that Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and others saw.
Related Content: Here's Why Magnite, Digital Turbine, Trade Desk Shares Are Trading Lower Today
Given Digital Turbine's relationship with Google, which Aftahi believes is still a very strong one, he can see how investors can initially conclude what they have but thinks this is not the case.
His view is that Google is one data source amongst many. But most importantly, Digital Turbine has its ID, which is tied to carrier and OEM privacy policies, not Google's, he adds.
Aftahi has a Buy rating and a price target of $83 on Digital Turbine's shares.
Stephens analyst Nicholas Zangler notes that The Trade Desk Inc (NASDAQ:TTD) shares are down 8% after the company reported "strong results," while shares of advertising technology peer Magnite Inc (NASDAQ:MGNI) are also down 8%, which he attributes to Google's announcement.
He believes Google is following Apple's recent move to provide users with the option to opt-out of app tracking on mobile devices. But Zangler notes that unlike Apple's "swift/blunt approach by embedding opt-out optionality in a recent iOS update," Google will take a multi-year approach and support existing ads platform features for at least two years.
His early read is that Trade Desk and Magnite will not be materially impacted by Google's Android privacy changes, noting that the companies' recent results indicate no material impact from Apple's recent iOS ATT changes.
Zangler has Overweight ratings on shares of both Trade Desk and Magnite.
Price Action: APPS shares traded lower by 2.76% at $49 in the premarket on the last check Thursday. TTD shares traded lower by 1.98% at $79.31, and MGNI shares traded lower by 0.84% at $12.95.
