Investment advisory firm Ithaka Group released the “Ithaka US Growth Strategy” first-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Following two years of gains exceeding 25%, the markets welcomed the new year with considerable volatility and a sharp decline. In the first quarter, Ithaka's portfolio underperformed the R1000G by 30 basis points, recording -10.3% to -10.0% (gross of fees) amid a negative market environment. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Ithaka US Growth Strategy highlighted stocks such as The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD). Headquartered in Ventura, California, The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) is a technology company that offers a self-service cloud-based ad-buying platform. The one-month return of The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) was -0.58%, and its shares lost 35.62% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 28, 2025, The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) stock closed at $54.40 per share with a market capitalization of $26.741 billion.

Ithaka US Growth Strategy stated the following regarding The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) offers customers a cloud-based ad-buying platform that empowers advertising agencies, brands, and other service providers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven digital advertising campaigns. The Trade Desk’s competitive moat stems from its industry leading technology stack, its trusted brand due to its singular focus on the buy side of the ad ecosystem (no conflicts of interest), and its transparent reporting that details the ROI on each ad dollar spent. The stock’s underperformance in the quarter was due to the mid-February earnings announcement that missed Street expectations for the first time in 33 quarters. The miss was a result of a series of small execution missteps, with a December company reorganization and a focus on internal scalability and effectiveness being the most prominent reasons."

A large array of computer screens and tech equipment representing the technology company's self-service cloud-based platform.

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 63 hedge fund portfolios held The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 42 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) and shared Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth Fund's views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.