Trade Desk, Roku could be bolstered via collaboration, says Guggenheim

Noting that Trade Desk (TTD) recently made the long-anticipated announcement that it has developed a streaming TV operating system, named Ventura, Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris discussed a “strictly hypothetical” transaction wherein Trade Desk acquired Roku (ROKU). In defending the hypothetical deal, the analyst argues that another OS provider represents an incremental competitive threat to Roku and believes that Ventura will face “a long climb to achieve the market penetration necessary to impact the industry.” The firm sees “common threats” to both Trade Desk and Roku, primarily from Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) and believes “each company’s strengths and ambitions are bolstered via collaboration rather than competition,” the analyst added.