TTD vs CMCSA: Buy Signal vs Watchlist-Only
How did Comcast (CMCSA) and The Trade Desk (TTD) fare under JumpstartSignal's 5-stage screening pipeline across our full 2012–2025 walk-forward backtest? We flagged CMCSA 26 times (544 signal days, first signal in 2012) and TTD 2 times (3 signal days, first signal in 2019). Every entry price, return, and SPY comparison below is from the frozen backtest snapshot.
📌 Note: CMCSA only ever reached our MONITOR watchlist tier, it was never promoted to a SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY buy signal. TTD did reach SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY. That asymmetry is the story of this comparison.
Head-to-Head Stats
CMCSA 📌 MONITOR Comcast · Communication Services
TTD ✅ OPPORTUNITY The Trade Desk · Technology
Per-Signal Returns
Each bar below shows the best return from one signal cluster, held from the entry date through Feb 1, 2026. The SPY return over the same period is shown alongside each entry, alpha is the gap between the two.
CMCSA Signal Clusters
| Entry Date | Entry Price | Return | SPY Return | Alpha vs SPY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 26, 2012 | $10.52 | +183% | +524% | -341% |
| Jun 12, 2012 | $10.43 | +185% | +562% | -377% |
| Mar 25, 2013 | $14.72 | +102% | +452% | -350% |
| May 1, 2013 | $14.84 | +100% | +440% | -340% |
| Jul 15, 2013 | $15.46 | +92% | +405% | -312% |
| Sep 17, 2013 | $15.56 | +91% | +400% | -308% |
| Feb 12, 2014 | $19.28 | +54% | +358% | -303% |
| May 7, 2014 | $18.43 | +61% | +347% | -285% |
| Aug 19, 2014 | $19.74 | +51% | +321% | -270% |
| Sep 3, 2014 | $19.87 | +50% | +316% | -266% |
| Dec 1, 2014 | $20.33 | +46% | +307% | -260% |
| May 4, 2015 | $21.56 | +38% | +289% | -251% |
| Jun 4, 2015 | $21.53 | +38% | +292% | -254% |
| Mar 18, 2016 | $22.01 | +35% | +296% | -261% |
| Jun 22, 2016 | $23.38 | +27% | +285% | -258% |
| Nov 28, 2016 | $25.70 | +16% | +262% | -246% |
| May 7, 2019 | $33.60 | -12% | +164% | -176% |
| Jun 14, 2019 | $33.41 | -11% | +163% | -174% |
| Oct 25, 2019 | $36.15 | -18% | +148% | -166% |
| Nov 14, 2019 | $36.23 | -18% | +143% | -161% |
| Jan 10, 2020 | $36.03 | -17% | +130% | -147% |
| Feb 7, 2020 | $35.77 | -17% | +124% | -140% |
| Apr 29, 2021 | $46.19 | -36% | +76% | -111% |
| Jun 1, 2021 | $46.39 | -36% | +75% | -111% |
| Aug 4, 2023 | $39.06 | -24% | +58% | -82% |
| Jan 19, 2024 | $38.26 | -22% | +46% | -68% |
TTD Signal Clusters
| Entry Date | Entry Price | Return | SPY Return | Alpha vs SPY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 31, 2019 | $14.27 | +112% | +183% | -70% |
| Nov 10, 2020 | $70.73 | -57% | +108% | -166% |
What This Teaches
Which stock a quant system picks more often says more about price-action shape than about the business. CMCSA kept printing clean SMA20/50 crossover + breakout-volume setups (26 distinct clusters over 14 years); TTD printed them 2× in the same window. Same universe, same rules, different output, and that is exactly what a rules-based pipeline is supposed to produce.
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FAQ
Did JumpstartSignal ever buy CMCSA?
No. CMCSA only ever cleared our weekly MONITOR tier, a watchlist of stocks matching some but not all of our buy criteria. MONITOR signals are published for research context, not executed as trades; only SPOTLIGHT and OPPORTUNITY signals enter the backtested portfolio. TTD, by contrast, did reach SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY in our pipeline; that asymmetry is the core story of this page.
Is CMCSA or TTD a better momentum stock?
These two are not directly comparable as momentum buys. CMCSA only ever cleared the MONITOR watchlist (26 clusters, never promoted to a buy), so it has no buy-tier alpha. TTD reached our buy tiers and averaged -118% alpha per buy signal across 2 clusters. MONITOR signals are watch-only and not comparable to executed buy signals.
When did JumpstartSignal first flag CMCSA?
Apr 26, 2012 at an entry price of $10.52 (MONITOR watchlist tier only). That signal has returned +183% held to the snapshot date, versus +524% for SPY over the same period.
When did JumpstartSignal first flag TTD?
Jan 31, 2019 at an entry price of $14.27 (SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY buy signal). That signal has returned +112% held to the snapshot date, versus +183% for SPY.
Does this mean one stock is a buy and the other isn't?
No. Historical signal frequency and past returns are not buy recommendations. Our pipeline identifies entries that would have matched the template historically. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Use these pages as methodology research, not investment advice.
Where does the underlying data come from?
All entries on this page come from the R30 walk-forward validated backtest covering 2012-2025 (the 'seo_active' snapshot in our golden archive). Entry prices, returns, and SPY comparisons are computed from end-of-day OHLCV and frozen at snapshot time. See our methodology for details.