01:04 PM EDT, 05/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The ad tech market rebounded sharply in Q1 as indicated by companies' financial results that mostly showed revenue exceeding expectations, Macquarie Equity Research said in a note sent Tuesday.

The eight companies in Macquarie's ad tech coverage - Criteo ( CRTO ) , Magnite ( MGNI ) , PubMatic ( PUBM ) , The Trade Desk ( TTD ) , AppLovin ( APP ) , Unity Software ( U ), DoubleVerify ( DV ) , and Integral Ad Science ( IAS ) - delivered an average 19% revenue growth in Q1 from a year earlier, the note said.

"Advertisers' use of data and technology to seek higher returns on spending drove good demand for ad tech services," it said.

Accelerating connected TV demand benefitted The Trade Desk ( TTD ), Magnite ( MGNI ), and PubMatic ( PUBM ) in particular, Macquarie analysts said.

However, transparency and "supply path optimization" have become much more important topics in the sector, they said, noting that the Association of National Advertisers and other industry organizations have called for greater transparency in the "often-convoluted ad tech landscape."

Macquarie raised its price targets for three companies, with AppLovin ( APP ) leading the increase, while maintaining those for two others and lowering one. Most of the stocks are rated outperform.

It lifted the price targets to $115 from $88 for AppLovin ( APP ), $45 from $40 for Criteo ( CRTO ), and $24 from $23 for PubMatic ( PUBM ). It kept the price targets for Magnite ( MGNI ) at $18, The Trade Desk ( TTD ) at $100, and Integral Ad Science ( IAS ) at $12. It lowered the price target for DoubleVerify ( DV ) to $25 from $40.

Price: 82.70, Change: -3.67, Percent Change: -4.25