Yesterday, (3 May) Rubicon Project (NYSE: RUBI), reported record Q1 results: revenue is up 71% year-on-year; earnings per share are up by 1,450% year-on-year. Rubicon also reported that 30% of its revenue comes from mobile and the remaining 70% from desktop, slightly behind 2015 figures from IAB that report mobile to be 35% of the US advertising market. 

"I am proud of our record-setting execution in Q1, accentuated by another profitable quarter and record first quarter results", said Frank Addante, CEO and founder of Rubicon Project.

"Our differentiated and growing market position has well positioned Rubicon Project for long-term growth as we continue to engineer the world’s highest quality advertising marketplace, drive strong adoption of what is now the third largest mobile exchange in the world, develop the next generation video and orders marketplace and continue to deepen relationships with the premier content creators, application developers, brands and advertisers who rely upon our technology to connect with one billion people around the world."

Rubicon's Q1 results exceeded analysts' projections, but it wasn't enough for management to brighten its sales outlook for the remainder of the year.

The cautious forecast disappointed investors, causing Rubicon Project's stock to sink nearly 7%.

Caution in the forecast could reflect concern over the stability of the ad tech industry as we see no clear indication whether the trend for fragmentation will continue, or whether M&A activity will drive consolidation. Rubicon enjoys a stronghold as one of the largest and highest quality advertising marketplaces. However, increased competition in any market makes maintaining that position hard. Furthermore, uncertainty over consolidation poses a bigger threat to ongoing success – if your closest rivals merge – how does that change the race?

Source: Rubicon Project 

Rubicon's results revealed that managed revenue was $248.5m (£169m) for the first quarter of 2016, an increase of 26% year-on-year. Whether this increase was driven by an increase in customers, or an increase in ad spend from the install base, was not revealed. Given that ad budgets have not increased by quarter, it is likely to be a combination of the two factors.

Just under a third (30%) of Rubicon's business is in mobile and 70% of it is desktop. That split puts mobile revenue share both above and below other public advertising companies. Facebook reported that 82% of its Q1 revenue was mobile; Criteo said mobile accounted for 47% of its 2015 revenue; Rocket Fuel’s 'mobile, social, and video' revenue declined, and it combined to account for a third of its revenue.