Applovin Corporation (APP) Stock Price & How to Invest

AppLovin is a mobile advertising-technology company. Its core engine, AXON, is a machine-learning system that matches advertisements to users across mobile apps and increasingly across e-commerce and connected TV. Advertisers pay AppLovin to place performance-based ads (the advertiser is charged when a user installs an app, makes a purchase, or takes another tracked action), and AXON continuously optimizes which ads to show to drive those outcomes. Because the heavy lifting is software and the model improves as it processes more spend, the advertising business runs at exceptionally high margins. In Q1 2026 AppLovin reported revenue of roughly $1.84 billion, up about 59% year over year, with an adjusted EBITDA margin near 85%, and in Q2 2026 revenue rose to about $1.92 billion, up roughly 53%, with net income of about $1.27 billion. Over the last twelve months revenue is about $6.8 billion and net income about $4.4 billion, a profit margin near 65%.

AppLovin was founded in 2012 and went public in 2021. For most of its history it ran two businesses: an advertising platform and a large portfolio of its own mobile games. In 2025 the company made a decisive strategic shift, agreeing to sell its mobile gaming studios to Tripledot Studios for about $400 million in cash plus roughly a 20% equity stake, a deal that closed June 30, 2025. The divestiture turned AppLovin into a focused adtech company and removed a potential conflict of interest with the game publishers who buy its ads, while concentrating the company on its higher-margin advertising arm. AppLovin was added to the S&P 500 in September 2025.

The share price has moved in the opposite direction from the results. APP closed near $273 on October 16, 2026, down about 56% year to date and about 36% over three months, against a 52-week high of about $738, cutting the market value to roughly $91 billion. Adjusted EPS of $3.76 in Q2 2026 only edged past the $3.74 consensus, a much thinner beat than in prior quarters, and coverage since then has centered on whether AXON's take rate is maturing and whether AppLovin is losing advertiser share. Wedbush said on October 14 that its advertiser checks point to stable share and called Q3 the key test of a model update that arrived just after Q2 closed; the company guided Q3 revenue to about $2.055 billion to $2.085 billion, and results are due November 4, 2026.

The bear case is real and several-sided. The advertising base is still concentrated in mobile gaming, so the e-commerce and connected-TV expansion has to execute to justify the growth narrative. Multiple short-sellers (including Muddy Waters and Fuzzy Panda) published reports in 2025 alleging questionable data-collection or fingerprinting practices, exaggerated incrementality claims, and metrics they called implausible; AppLovin denied the allegations and retained outside counsel to investigate. In October 2025 reports surfaced that the SEC was examining the company's data-collection practices following a whistleblower complaint, which sent the stock sharply lower. The multiple has already compressed sharply in 2026: the stock fell from a 52-week high near $738 to about $273 and now trades near 21x trailing and 13x forward earnings, with the market treating growth deceleration (from about 59% in Q1 to about 53% in Q2) and a possible maturing take rate as the main concern. Competition is also back in focus, with Unity's Vector ad platform drawing analyst attention in October 2026. Any further deceleration or adverse regulatory finding could pressure the shares again, and the company carries about $3.5 billion of debt against about $3.05 billion of cash.

31 analysts publish price targets on APP, averaging $448.43 against a $234.48 price as of November 2026, or +91.2%. The published targets run from $325.00 to $625.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 27 buy, 6 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 0 raises and 11 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full APP forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Applovin Corporation. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. The AXON AI advertising engine. AXON is the centerpiece of the thesis. The most optimistic published target, $625.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The bear case is real and several-sided. The most pessimistic target, $325.00, is roughly what APP is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on APP, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

No. Applovin Corporation (APP) has not split its stock in the last 10 years. That is a statement about the window we check rather than about the company’s entire history, so an older split is possible. It also matters less than it once did: fractional shares mean a high price per share no longer keeps smaller investors out, which removed most of the practical reason to split.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Applovin Corporation's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM, now nearly all advertising): ~$6.8 billion, growing ~53% year over year in the latest quarter
• Q2 2026 revenue / net income: ~$1.92 billion / ~$1.27 billion
• Operating margin (TTM): ~78%
• Net income (TTM): ~$4.4 billion
• Free cash flow (TTM): ~$3.2 billion
• Market cap: ~$91 billion at ~$273 a share
• P/E ratio: ~21x trailing, ~13x forward

After a roughly 56% decline in 2026, AppLovin trades at about 21x trailing and 13x forward earnings, far below the ~46x trailing multiple of mid-2026, even though Q2 revenue grew about 53% and adjusted EPS of $3.76 topped the $3.74 consensus. The market is pricing a slowdown in AXON's growth rather than reported weakness. Q3 results land November 4, 2026, against company guidance of about $2.055-2.085 billion of revenue and consensus EPS around $4.

If you want APP exposure as part of a larger bundle rather than directly, these ETFs hold it meaningfully. Weights are approximate and refresh quarterly.

Other names that sit close to APP: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get APP exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it (XLC), which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so APP sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where APP fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

AppLovin (APP) is now a pure advertising-technology company, having sold its mobile gaming studios in mid-2025 to focus entirely on its AXON AI ad engine, which posted revenue of about $1.92 billion in Q2 2026, up roughly 53% year over year, with operating margins near 78% over the last twelve months. If you believe AXON's targeting advantage compounds and the move into e-commerce and connected TV broadens the customer base, the question becomes sizing and overlap, not timing. The risk is that the business stays concentrated in a contested category facing short-seller allegations and an SEC inquiry into its data practices, and the market has been pricing a slowdown: the shares fell about 36% in three months to around $273, which cut the forward P/E to roughly 13x. Q3 2026 results on November 4 are the next test.

Whether APP is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is APP a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the APP stock forecast.

For income investors, whether APP pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does APP pay a dividend? And to weigh APP against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: APP vs U and APP vs GOOGL.