AppLovin Shares Soar 445% Year‑Over‑Year

AppLovin shares hit fresh intraday and closing records this month, rallying roughly 445% from a year ago and ranking among the top performers in the Nasdaq‑100 and S&P 500 (Morningstar). Analyst bullishness accelerated, with Morgan Stanley’s Matthew Cost raising his price target 56% to $750 and at least 11 other firms raising targets, while FactSet shows average long‑term earnings growth expectations near 34%. Wall Street’s upgrades came ahead of the planned soft launch of AppLovin’s self‑serve Axon Ads Manager, which investors view as a potential revenue catalyst as the company expands beyond gaming advertisers. Consensus fundamental estimates have moved sharply higher: Zacks reports expected EPS of $2.34 for the current quarter (up about 87% year‑over‑year) and $9.07 for the fiscal year (about 100% higher), with forecasts materially larger for next year. Despite the momentum, some outlets remain cautious — MarketBeat rates AppLovin a Moderate Buy and did not include it among its top five analyst picks — underscoring that not all analysts are uniformly bullish.