The Motley Fool has been teasing a company that they call Cable TV's "Ticking Time Bomb", but what is it and is it worth investing in?
In this quick review I'll be piecing together the puzzle and exposing the stock for free, which you'd normally have to buy a subscription of their advisory service to find out more about.
The teaser:
They've actually been teasing this same stock since at least 2018, and maybe earlier.
Some of the things we know are that it is in the advertising industry and isn't a competitor with Neflix, Hulu, etc., and it's said that most investors have never heard of this company, yet it is one of the rare "ultimate buy alert" stocks that The Motley Fool is recommending.
What the heck is an "ultimate buy alert"?
This is when both Tom and David Gardner (Motley Fool's founders) land on the same stock recommendation. They make their recommendations separately and when they both happen, by chance, to land on the same pick... well, then... this means the stock is likely a pretty good pick.
These "ultimate buy alerts" don't come around too often. Since Stock Advisor's 2002 inception there have only been around 25 of them issued. And the average return of these stocks has been 773%, which is pretty darn good (these statistics might be a bit outdated).
They hint that this "ticking time bomb" stock could see similar gains.
How This Works
If you're familiar with Motley Fool's teasers then I'm sure you already know what's going on here.
They have a special report called "1 Stock for Cable TV's "Ticking Time Bomb", which goes over the stock being teased and why they believe it's such a good play.
How do you get this report?
Well, of course they aren't just giving away this information for free. You have to buy a subscription to their Stock Advisor service first, which is the same sales tactic they used with their #1 Pot Stock teaser (we also exposed this).
Well... normally you have to subscribe... but today I'm just going to tell you what the stock is...
Motley Fool's "Ticking Time Bomb" Stock Revealed
Okay, so to piece this puzzle together let's go over some of what we know. The hints include:
- This company stands to profit as more and more people ditch cable for streaming TV
- isn’t some competitor to Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video
- this company sits in the middle of the advertising market
- CEO called the current moment "the most exciting in the history of advertising" during an interview with Tom Gardner (co-founder of The Motley Fool)
- CEO said something about a "ticking time bomb"
None of those hints are really all that great, but fortunately for us this company has been teased for quite some time and the information as to its name has been leaked.
The "ticking time bomb" stock they're teasing is The Trade Desk (TTD), which is a tech company that provides a software platform allowing real time bidding (RTB) for digital ad buyers.
- Yes, TTD is positioned to profit from more people joining streaming services.
- Yes, it's true that TTD is not a competitor with Netfilx, Hulu, etc.
- Yes, TTD is an advertising company.
- Yes, the CEO, Jeff Green, did state that he believes this is "the most exciting in the history of advertising" in an interview with the Motley Fool.
- Yes, the CEO did mention the TV business being a "ticking time bomb" in an interview published on Business Insider...
All clues point to TTD, and it makes perfect sense because The Motley Fool has been a big fan of this company for quite some time now... and has voiced this opinion many times.
Good Investment or Not?
It seems that people aren't quite as optimistic as they once were with this company, largely due to the recent pandemic's economic affect, but there are still many proponents... and it's still a stock that is held by a fair amount of hedge funds.
If you look at the 12-month price forecast from CNN Money the outlook isn't anything special, but The Motley Fool is all about long-term value investing when it comes to their Stock Advisor service... so they don't really care too much about the short-term future (although 12 months isn't really that short).
There's no doubt this company is positioned well in a growing industry, and that's always a good thing, but you certainly shouldn't buy into it thinking that it's going to provide a 773% return like that of the average "ultimate buy alert" stock - and besides, this statistic is misleading because of massive gains from stocks they've recommended, like Neflix for example (up over 20,000%).
Quick Recap
- Motley Fool has been teasing Cable TV's "Ticking Time Bomb" stock since at least 2018
- This is an "ultimate buy alert" stock, which is a stock that both Tom and David Gardner picked
- Normally you'd have to buy into their Stock Advisor subscription to find out the name of this company
- I've exposed it... the company being teased here is The Trade Desk (TTD), which provides a real time bidding (RTB) online advertising service
- Don't buy in counting on this becoming the next Netflix of Tesla stock
And there you have it!
Hopefully this quick review has provided some value to you. Let us know what you think about this pick in the comment section below. We're always happy to hear back from our readers!
Hi Anders,
Thanks. I saw this teaser and wondered if I could figure it out without joining Motley. I did that once and found it unhelpful. So I was thrilled to stumble upon your site where you did the work for me!
And, as a Battlestar Gallactica fan, I love your name…
Cecelia
Hi Cecelia. Thank you so much, I appreciate the compliment. Not sure the Battlestar Gallactica reference, but I’ll have to look it up.
Take care.
hi, never invested before, hope to leave something for my daughter. one question. I hear about 25 times the "all-in" alert has been raised and approximately a 773% average was achieved on these stocks. question is of the 23,25 what ever it was, how many of these actually lost money? and well, ok 2 questions. the 773 % was from when to when? I'm trying to ask if the first pick was 20 years ago and the next pic was 2 yearslater, how was the 773% calculated? pick one up 1000% the next day then fell to zero later on? pick 2 up 1000% the next day then fell to zero later on but a 2000% increase is calculated for these two picks? did the 3rd pick loose to the point of 1227% bringing average of first 3 picks to a outstanding average of 773%? help me out on the timeframes and calculations to get 773%. thank you, first time investor, greg,
Hi Greg,
I really don’t know the details of these statistics. I don’t think The Motley Fool really provides much information on them.
Not sure how you can put down TTD with 1 year high undefined low of 132 vs 800. I’d take that any “long term” 1 year.
The price for one share is nearly 900 a person like I can't spend that on one stock
I'm not loaded
What the hell I just got an email today saying to invest in it. What a dated email. That’s quite annoying and misleading.
Okay, So if you have an idea and you dont have the financial means to back it. you use social media platforms to pitch it to have the interest of others.Once you get enough hits it may stir things up in the NYSE..Once you have rattled a few feathers you may be flying high soon.
Very informative. I'm new to the investment world and have already discovered that there is a lot of b.s. out there and it is very hard to get real news and advice. Thanks.
What is the new (motleyfool ticking time mob )
June252021
I’m pretty sure it’s the same stock that’s been teased for years now – the same one we exposed here.
I don’t think you are right on this one. I did research snd I think the company is roku. One of his hints is 2.3 billion the ceo is worth. Roku ceo has 2.3 billion. If you do research on roku I bet you change your answer. Anyway thought I would give you my two cents