Company Reports

AppLovin is a vertically integrated advertising tech company that acts as a demand-side platform for advertisers, a supply-side platform for publishers, and an exchange that facilitates transactions between the two. The firm initially focused on mobile game advertising and monetization, but soon identified a broader need for enhanced customer acquisition and optimization tools across content types. AppLovin provides advertisers access to 1.6 billion daily active users. The company is growing rapidly and has a strong margin profile.

AppLovin shares are off nearly 20% after reporting second-quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA that narrowly missed the midpoints of management’s guidance. The company blamed a slower-than-normal cadence of model improvements for the shortfall.

AppLovin is a vertically integrated advertising tech company that acts as a demand-side platform for advertisers, a supply-side platform for publishers, and an exchange that facilitates transactions between the two. The firm initially focused on mobile game advertising and monetization, but soon identified a broader need for enhanced customer acquisition and optimization tools across content types. AppLovin provides advertisers access to 1.6 billion daily active users. The company is growing rapidly and has a strong margin profile, earning it the highest Rule-of-40 score in our software universe.

AppLovin’s first-quarter revenue rose 59%, and its adjusted EBITDA margin reached 85%—a combination of growth and profitability rarely seen in companies of this size. The planned self-serve advertiser onboarding in June is the next major scaling event.

AppLovin is a vertically integrated advertising tech company that acts as a demand-side platform for advertisers, a supply-side platform for publishers, and an exchange that facilitates transactions between the two. The firm initially focused on mobile game advertising and monetization, but soon identified a broader need for enhanced user acquisition and optimization tools across content types. AppLovin provides advertisers access to 1.6 billion daily active users. Following the divestment of its gaming studios in early 2025, it is now a pure-play ad tech platform. The company is growing rapidly and has a strong margin profile, earning it the highest Rule-of-40 score in our software universe.

AppLovin is trading lower after fourth-quarter advertising revenue increased by 66% year over year and the adjusted EBITDA margin reached 84%, beating management’s expectations by 7 and 1 percentage points, respectively. Management also addressed issues driving recent share price volatility.

AppLovin is trading higher after third-quarter advertising revenue came in 6% above the midpoint of management's expectations, equal to impressive 68% year-over-year growth. The adjusted EBITDA margin also beat management's forecast of 81% by 1 percentage point.

AppLovin is a vertically integrated advertising tech company that acts as a demand-side platform, or DSP, for advertisers; as a supply side platform for publishers; and as an exchange facilitating transactions between the two. The firm initially focused on mobile game advertising and monetization, but soon identified a broader need for enhanced user acquisition and optimization tools across content types. This led to the development of its first ad optimizer, Axon 1, in 2018. AppLovin now provides advertisers access to 1.6 billion daily active users. After divesting from its gaming studios in early 2025, it is now a pure-play ad tech platform.

AppLovin's stock price fell 14% after Bloomberg reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the company's data collection practices. Previous short reports accused AppLovin of violating partner platforms' (Meta, Google, and so on ) terms of service.

AppLovin rallied 10% in early trading on Monday, Sept. 8, after Friday's announcement that it would be included in the S&P 500 along with Robinhood and Emcor.

AppLovin's second-quarter earnings came in 4% above management's midpoint expectations for advertising revenue, culminating in impressive 77% year-over-year growth. It also met 81% adjusted EBITDA margin expectations and finalized the divestment of its gaming production business.

AppLovin is a vertically integrated advertising tech company that acts as a demand-side platform, or DSP, for advertisers; as a supply side platform for publishers; and as an exchange facilitating transactions between the two. The firm initially focused on mobile game advertising and monetization, but soon identified a broader need for enhanced user acquisition and optimization tools across content types. This led to the development of its first ad optimizer, Axon 1, in 2018. AppLovin now provides advertisers access to 1.6 billion daily active users.

AppLovin is a vertically integrated advertising tech company that acts as a demand-side platform, or DSP, for advertisers; as a supply side platform for publishers; and as an exchange facilitating transactions between the two. The firm initially focused on mobile game advertising and monetization, but soon identified a broader need for enhanced user acquisition and optimization tools across content types. This led to the development of its first ad optimizer, Axon 1, in 2018. AppLovin now provides advertisers access to 1.6 billion daily active users.

AppLovin shares are up 13% in after-hours trading after announcing revenue in its advertising segment beat management guidance by 11% during the first quarter. Total revenue beat FactSet analyst expectations by 5%. AppLovin also entered into a definitive agreement to sell the gaming division.

On March 27, 2025, Muddy Waters Research released a short-seller report on AppLovin, alleging management overstates return on advertising spending, aggressively retargets to “steal attribution,” and most importantly, violates Google’s and Meta’s (and others) terms of service by creating persistent identity graphs to train its advertising optimization model. A PIG is a collection of user identifiers from multiple platforms, obtained against the TOS, and combined to create a persistent digital profile for a specific user. After report’s release, shares quickly fell 20% from $325 to $260.

We launch coverage of AppLovin with a narrow moat rating based on intangible assets and a fair value estimate of $284, leaving the shares slightly undervalued in our view. AppLovin’s shares have been on a rollercoaster, increasing 800% in 2024 and falling sharply since mid-February when two short-seller reports were released. We believe that these reports misunderstand AppLovin’s performance-based revenue model, but we acknowledge that the firm’s long-term potential is highly uncertain. We view the current share price as appropriate for a firm that has shown clear promise but would look for a larger margin of safety before investing.

AppLovin is a vertically integrated advertising tech company that acts as a demand-side platform, or DSP, for advertisers; as a supply side platform for publishers; and as an exchange facilitating transactions between the two. The firm initially focused on mobile game advertising and monetization, but soon identified a broader need for enhanced user acquisition and optimization tools across content types. This led to the development of its first ad optimizer, Axon 1, in 2018. AppLovin now provides advertisers access to 1.6 billion daily active users.