Why AppLovin Stock Bumped Higher Today

Key Points

• An analyst upped his price target on the adtech specialist.

• This followed a meeting with the company's CEO and CFO.

• 10 stocks we like better than AppLovin ›

Mobile adtech company AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) was certainly feeling the investor love on Thursday, as bullish market players bid the company's stock up by almost 3%. Much of this was attributable to an analyst's move early that morning. AppLovin's bounce was higher than that of the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), which saw an uptick of 0.8% across the trading session.

A price target increase after meeting with executives

Well before market open, Jefferies' James Heaney pulled the lever on an AppLovin price target raise. In his view, the stock is now worth $615 per share, well up from his previous assessment of $560. With the move, Heaney kept his existing buy recommendation intact.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Image source: Getty Images.

Heaney's adjustment followed a meeting with AppLovin's CEO Adam Foroughi and CFO Matt Stumpf, according to reports.

In his update, Heaney detailed several major takeaways from that discussion. First, he believes the mobile adtech market has numerous drivers that will soon propel it notably higher. Second, the company's expansion into advertising for non-game mobile apps, and in-app purchases, could produce significant growth.

Finally, the analyst believes that despite high levels of investment, AppLovin should be able to maintain its meaningful earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins of over 80%.

Revenue forecasts raised

Heaney's discussion with the AppLovin executives also inspired him to slightly raise (by 2%) his estimate for the company's full-year 2026 revenue, on the back of roughly $2 billion in net web advertising revenue. The pundit also bumped his fourth-quarter 2025 top-line projection 1% higher.

Should you invest $1,000 in AppLovin right now?

Before you buy stock in AppLovin, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and AppLovin wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $661,268!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,045,818!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,047% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 184% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 25, 2025

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AppLovin and Jefferies Financial Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.