What Happened?

Shares of mobile app technology company AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) jumped 5.3% in the afternoon session after Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of the mobile adtech company with a 'buy' rating. 

The analyst, Benjamin Black, set a $705 price target, which represented a potential 17% upside from the stock's price at the time. The positive outlook was based on the belief that AppLovin's advertising technology outpaced its competitors. The bank highlighted the company's dominance in mobile game user acquisition, with over 1 billion daily active users. The firm also pointed to the company’s strategic expansion into e-commerce, driven by its AI-powered Axon model, which proved effective outside of the gaming sector. Deutsche Bank estimated that AppLovin was positioned for revenue growth between 20% and 30% year over year in the coming years.

The shares closed the day at $620.07, up 5.2% from previous close.

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What Is The Market Telling Us

AppLovin’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 61 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 9 days ago when the stock gained 1% as several financial firms expressed a bullish outlook on the company, with analysts raising their price targets. Goldman Sachs boosted its price target to $630 from $445, pointing to expected ad revenue growth of 20% or more annually for the next three years, driven by gains in mobile gaming ad demand. Similarly, Wells Fargo & Company increased its price objective on the stock to $633. This positive sentiment followed RBC Capital Markets initiating coverage with an 'Outperform' rating the previous day. Analysts highlighted the company's platform, which has expanded beyond mobile gaming into e-commerce, and its AI-powered Axon 2.0 engine as key factors for strong recent revenue growth.

AppLovin is up 80.5% since the beginning of the year, but at $617 per share, it is still trading 14.1% below its 52-week high of $718.54 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of AppLovin’s shares at the IPO in April 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $9,463.

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