New York, January 14, 2026, 16:29 EST — After-hours
- AppLovin shares plunged during regular trading and then dropped another 7.6% in after-hours trading
- Evercore ISI initiated coverage, assigning an Outperform rating along with a $835 price target
- Investors are now focused on the Feb. 11 results to gauge ad demand and growth beyond mobile gaming
Shares of AppLovin Corp plunged on Wednesday, slipping as low as $596.93 during the session before settling down 7.6% at $617.65 in after-hours trading. The stock had ended Tuesday at $668.63.
The decline occurred despite Evercore ISI kicking off coverage with an Outperform rating. Analyst Robert Coolbrith labeled AppLovin the “dominant ad tech platform for mobile gaming,” and highlighted its emerging e-commerce segment as a fresh growth driver. Investors.com
Why it matters now: AppLovin is riding high as a momentum play in ad-tech, but Wednesday’s sell-off revealed just how fast traders pull back from growth stocks when the market stumbles. The Invesco QQQ Trust, tracking big-cap tech, slipped roughly 1.1%, and the iShares U.S. Technology ETF dropped around 1.3%.
Evercore sees AppLovin gaining ground as it ramps up performance advertising for e-commerce—focusing on ads that drive purchases, not just clicks. The firm forecasts revenue and adjusted EBITDA to grow more than 30% annually from 2025 through 2028. It also suggests the stock’s valuation could remain intact around 36 times fiscal 2026 EV/EBITDA (enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).
A key part of the growth story hinges on how quickly AppLovin can expand its ad budgets beyond mobile games, a sector where it’s already a major force. The real question as earnings season approaches isn’t the $835 target itself, but that expansion potential.
AppLovin will release its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings on Feb. 11, after U.S. markets close. The company also plans a management webcast at 5 p.m. ET that day, it announced.
Broader markets offered little support. Software and ad-linked shares showed mixed results, with Unity Software dropping roughly 7.9%, highlighting the risk-off mood dragging down higher-beta stocks.
A major risk for the stock remains regulatory scrutiny. Reuters reported in October that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating AppLovin’s data-collection methods. Any negative findings could weigh heavily on the company’s advertising approach and its ties with partners.
Wednesday’s sell-off seemed driven more by positioning than any news specific to AppLovin. No new filings or product updates surfaced to explain the drop.
Investors will be watching closely on Thursday to see if the stock can settle down after its volatile intraday moves. The key date to focus on is Feb. 11, when AppLovin must deliver results to support its e-commerce growth story and outline how sustainable demand appears heading into early 2026.
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