Lake Street Capital Upgrades PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM) to “Strong-Buy”

PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM) was upgraded by stock analysts at Lake Street Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently commented on PUBM. Evercore upped their price target on shares of PubMatic from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of PubMatic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $10.50 in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on PubMatic from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of PubMatic in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded PubMatic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PubMatic presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.63.

PubMatic Stock Performance

PUBM opened at $8.10 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $7.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.26. PubMatic has a fifty-two week low of $6.15 and a fifty-two week high of $13.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $376.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.13 and a beta of 1.58.

PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $80.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.12 million. PubMatic had a negative return on equity of 5.68% and a negative net margin of 5.11%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that PubMatic will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Steven Pantelick sold 18,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total value of $162,086.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 28,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $252,714.85. The trade was a 39.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rajeev K. Goel sold 44,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.28, for a total transaction of $276,320.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 431,650 shares of company stock worth $3,434,455. 26.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PubMatic

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of PubMatic in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of PubMatic by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,915 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of PubMatic by 264.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 3,541 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of PubMatic by 120.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 4,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of PubMatic by 506.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 4,980 shares during the last quarter. 64.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key PubMatic News

Here are the key news stories impacting PubMatic this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 earnings and revenue beat—PubMatic reported $0.29 EPS vs. $0.16 expected and revenue of $80.05M vs. $76.12M, a clear upside that likely moved the stock. Press Release / Slide Deck
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher price targets — Rosenblatt raised its price target to $21 and kept a Buy rating (large upside vs. current levels), and B. Riley upgraded the stock to Buy with a $10.50 target; these endorsements add buying momentum. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Management guided Q1 revenue to $58.0M–$60.0M (slightly above consensus) and signaled a push for double‑digit revenue growth in H2 2026—this forward commentary supports upward revision expectations. PubMatic targets double-digit revenue growth in H2 2026 while accelerating agentic AI adoption
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic focus on agentic AI—coverage highlights management accelerating agentic AI investments, which investors view as a growth and differentiation catalyst for programmatic ad technology. PubMatic Is All In On Agentic AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Full earnings materials and call transcript are available for deeper due diligence (slides, press release, and transcript provide color on margins, product traction, and channel dynamics). Earnings Transcript & Materials
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability remains a concern—PubMatic still reported a negative net margin (~‑2.5%) and negative ROE, and Q4 EPS ($0.29) was below last year’s $0.41, which could temper sentiment despite the beat. Zacks: Surpasses Q4 Estimates

PubMatic Company Profile

PubMatic is a cloud-based digital advertising technology company that provides a supply-side platform (SSP) enabling publishers to automate and optimize the sale of their ad inventory across display, mobile, video and connected TV channels. Its core offerings include real-time bidding infrastructure, header bidding solutions under the OpenWrap brand and data analytics tools that deliver actionable insights on audience engagement and monetization performance. By facilitating seamless auctions and providing transparent reporting, PubMatic helps publishers maximize yield while improving buyer experiences.

Founded in 2006 by Rajeev Goel and a team of ad-tech veterans, PubMatic grew from an early entrant in programmatic selling to a publicly traded company, listing on the Nasdaq (symbol: PUBM) in December 2020.