Magnite Soars as Google's Antitrust Ruling Boosts Independent Ad-Tech

Magnite's stock price surged over 6% on Thursday after two analyst firms raised their price targets following Google's antitrust ruling. The court ordered Alphabet Inc.'s Google to relax rules governing its online advertising auctions and make its technology work more effectively with rival platforms, a move seen as a major win for independent ad-tech companies like Magnite.

StoneX analyst Daniel Kurnos raised his price target on MGNI stock to $43 from $33 and maintained a 'Buy' rating. He highlighted the importance of Prebid, an open-source technology that allows publishers to connect with competing advertising platforms rather than relying solely on Google's ecosystem. The market and coverage of the ruling are still 'underselling how central Prebid is' to the outcome, Kurnos said.

Craig-Hallum also raised its Magnite price target to $32 from $28 and described the outcome for independent sell-side platforms as somewhere between a 'home run' and a 'grand slam'. The firm highlighted the 60-day implementation window and six-year technical monitoring period, which it believes will help prevent Google from creating workarounds to the remedies.