AppLovin soars about 16% before the bell after 55% revenue growth, a sharp turn for the S&P 500's worst performer this year
The mobile ad company beat estimates and guided fourth-quarter revenue well above Wall Street's forecast. CEO Adam Foroughi called last quarter's stumble self-inflicted and said the rollout of new ad models is still in front of it.
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AppLovin is set for one of the biggest moves of the morning. Shares of the mobile advertising company rose about 16% in premarket trading on Thursday after it reported third-quarter results and a fourth-quarter outlook that both cleared Wall Street's forecasts, according to Benzinga and TipRanks. It is a sharp reversal for a stock that had been the S&P 500's worst performer of the year.
How the shares got here
The rally started before the report. AppLovin gained 10.69% to close at $271.75 in Wednesday's regular session, according to Benzinga and market data, as the broad market surged after the midterm elections. After the results came out, the shares jumped about 23% in extended trading, to about $333.80, according to Benzinga, StockAnalysis and TipRanks. Benzinga put the premarket gain at about 16.5%, to around $316.50, early Thursday.
Even with those gains, the stock has a long way to go to recover this year's losses. AppLovin was down about 60% in 2026 through Wednesday's close, making it the worst performer in the S&P 500, according to MarketWatch as cited by StockAnalysis. TipRanks also put the year-to-date decline at about 60%.
The quarter
Revenue rose 55% from a year earlier to about $2.18 billion to $2.19 billion, depending on rounding, above estimates of about $2.07 billion to $2.08 billion, according to StockAnalysis, TipRanks and Benzinga. Earnings came to $4.30 a share, ahead of estimates of about $4.03 to $4.07. Net income rose 72% to $1.44 billion, and adjusted EBITDA, a profit measure that excludes items such as stock-based pay, was $1.84 billion, above the $1.73 billion FactSet consensus, StockAnalysis reported.
Revenue came in about $100 million above the top of the range AppLovin gave in August, according to StockAnalysis. That matters because the previous quarter disappointed: revenue of $1.924 billion fell just short of the $1.935 billion analysts expected, Benzinga reported.
Chief financial officer Matt Stumpf said growth was "primarily driven by the core mobile gaming business due to model improvements during the quarter," according to StockAnalysis. TipRanks said the company also pointed to continued expansion in its consumer business, which includes retail and e-commerce advertisers.
The outlook
For the fourth quarter, AppLovin expects revenue of $2.365 billion to $2.395 billion, growth of 43% to 44% from a year earlier, according to StockAnalysis and Benzinga. Analysts had expected about $2.25 billion, Benzinga said. The company also guided adjusted EBITDA to $1.995 billion to $2.025 billion, which StockAnalysis calculated as a margin of 84% to 85%.
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What Foroughi said
Chief executive Adam Foroughi used the earnings call to push back on concerns that competitors were taking share, according to Benzinga. He described last quarter's shortfall as largely self-inflicted and said rivals' strong results did not necessarily come at AppLovin's expense. "The industry checks out there show you all other companies are performing really well in the market," he said, as quoted by Benzinga.
He also made clear that the company's next generation of ad models is only partly in place.
"This was a partial rollout. The transition is still in front of us." - AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi on Wednesday's earnings call, as quoted by StockAnalysis
Foroughi said he could not commit to a date for the full rollout, StockAnalysis reported. That leaves a clear marker for coming quarters: how much of the growth depends on models that are still being deployed.
What to watch
The premarket move is large, and early prices can shift once regular trading begins at 9:30 a.m. ET. The report also lands on a day when futures on the Nasdaq 100 are lower and chipmakers such as Qualcomm are under pressure, so AppLovin's gain is a company-specific story rather than a sign of broad strength in tech. For investors, the results show how quickly sentiment can turn on a stock that had fallen this far, and why the next update on the ad-model rollout is likely to draw close attention.
