The Trade Desk vs. AppLovin: What Do Their Quarterly Revenue Trajectories Tell Investors?

Robert Izquierdo, The Motley Fool

Wed, May 13, 2026 astatine 9:33 AM CDT 3 min read

The Trade Desk: Seasonal Revenue Fluctuations

The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) operates a self-service cloud-based level allowing buyers to optimize data-driven integer advertizing campaigns.

While launching its Ventura streaming inaugural and facing an probe regarding its erstwhile guidance, it reported an astir 6% nett income borderline for the 4th ended March 31, 2026.

AppLovin: Consistent Revenue Expansion

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) builds bundle solutions that assistance mobile app developers amended the selling and monetization of their integer properties.

It announced a committee enactment modulation and migrated games to its Adjust platform, portion generating an astir 65% nett income borderline for the 4th ended March 31, 2026.

Why Revenue Matters for Retail Investors

Revenue shows investors the full magnitude of wealth a concern brings successful earlier immoderate operating costs oregon taxes are deducted. This helps investors gauge earthy concern standard and growth.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Quarterly Revenue for The Trade Desk and AppLovin

Data source: Company filings. Data arsenic of May 10, 2026.

Foolish Take

A examination of revenues betwixt The Trade Desk and AppLovin, 2 giants successful the integer advertizing sector, uncover absorbing insights. The Trade Desk follows a emblematic signifier for the advertisement industry, wherever the 4th fourth represents its biggest successful presumption of revenue. Advertisers thin to walk much successful Q4 owed to seasonal factors specified arsenic Black Friday and driving vacation sales. I worked successful integer advertizing for galore years, and americium utilized to seeing this trend.

That said, AppLovin defied emblematic manufacture seasonality arsenic its Q1 net results showed accordant quarter-over-quarter growth. Its Q1 income of $1.8 cardinal represented a whopping 59% year-over-year increase. The company’s gross enlargement resulted successful jaw-dropping Q1 nett income of $1.2 billion, astir treble the anterior year’s $576.4 million.

By contrast, The Trade Desk’s Q1 gross of $689 cardinal was a 12% year-over-year increase. That’s bully growth, but not the outsized enlargement AppLovin is experiencing.

This indicates AppLovin’s solutions are attracting much advertiser spending than The Trade Desk. For investors weighing whether to put successful these 2 integer advertisement companies, AppLovin looks similar the amended concern acknowledgment to its spectacular income growth.