Needham Upgrades AppLovin (APP) to Buy on Ecommerce Growth Inflection

AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) is one of the AI Stocks in Focus on Wall Street. On January 26, Needham analyst Bernie McTernan upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy with a price target of $700.00.

The firm sees ecommerce growth inflection in 2026, with potential for further upside along a trajectory similar to TikTok’s. It noted how the upgrade on AppLovin to Buy reflects its additional work on ecommerce, reinforcing confidence in the trajectory of ecommerce revenue growth in ’26E. This comes at the same time the stock pulled back off the highs from a month ago.

Needham has raised its ecommerce estimates reflecting expectations of sequential growth in the first quarter as it now assumes “growth in advertisers from the self-service launch and ramp up in spend more than offsets typical 1Q seasonality.”

Despite the higher estimates, the firm believes there is potential for upside under a bull case scenario.

Despite the increase to our ecommerce estimates, we think there is potential upside to our estimates in our bull case which assumes APP revenue can experience a similar trajectory as TikTok.

AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) provides a leading marketing platform powered by AI technology.

While we acknowledge the potential of APP as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

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Disclosure: None.