New York, Feb 15, 2026, 10:54 (EST) — The market has closed.
- AppLovin shares bounced back Friday, ending the session in positive territory following Thursday’s steep drop.
- After the company released its quarterly results and guidance, analysts moved to adjust their price targets.
- U.S. markets are closed Monday for Presidents Day. Attention shifts to Tuesday’s open, with traders eyeing Federal Reserve minutes due midweek.
AppLovin Corp shares finished Friday at $390.55, climbing 6.4% following Thursday’s sharp slide. During the session, the stock swung from $359 up to $391.85 before dipping 0.4% in late trading. About 9.1 million shares traded hands, down from a hefty 18.8 million the previous day.
AppLovin has found itself swept up in the so-called “AI scare trade,” as investors bail out of stocks they suspect might get undercut by rapid advances in artificial intelligence. “With fear driving market sentiment, investors remain in ‘sell first think later’ mode,” wrote Emmanuel Cau, equity strategist at Barclays, addressing the wider selloff. Reuters
AppLovin faces a pointed question: can an ad-tech player operating real-time auctions hold onto its advantage as giants and upstarts alike chase the same pool of ad spending? Its software connects advertisers with users and lets app developers make money from their inventory. There’s also an AI system in the mix, rapidly pairing ad demand with publisher supply.
AppLovin shares reacted after Wednesday’s late earnings release, which showed fourth-quarter revenue hit $1.658 billion with net income at $1.102 billion. For the first quarter, the company is guiding revenue between $1.745 billion and $1.775 billion. AppLovin also disclosed a buyback and share withholding of 6.4 million shares in 2025, totaling $2.58 billion. Analysts pointed to stiffer competition and choppy macro conditions, despite the strong headline numbers.
Across Wall Street, early reactions to earnings were all over the map on price targets, but analysts sounded pretty bullish. Wedbush’s Michael Pachter bumped his target to $640—up from $465—while sticking with his Outperform call. He called out a “massive growth opportunity” and said the results eased some nerves. TipRanks
BofA’s Omar Dessouky took his price target down to $705 from $780 but stuck with a Buy. He pointed to a “de-rating” across the sector and softer e-commerce growth, yet described AppLovin as having “significant valuation support driven by its dominant gaming biz.” TipRanks
Jefferies dropped its price target to $700 from $860 but stuck with a Buy rating, describing the results as “impressive.” Morgan Stanley, for its part, now sees a $720 target, down from $800, while maintaining its Overweight call, MT Newswires reported via MarketScreener. TipRanks
The risk hasn’t gone away. Stepping outside the daily AI hype, AppLovin remains under the microscope for its handling of data. Bloomberg News reported last year that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the company’s data-collection practices. AppLovin, for its part, maintains that it won’t comment on possible regulatory issues.
U.S. markets are shut Monday for Presidents Day, so the next shot at gauging APP shares comes when trading resumes on Tuesday. Investors will also be watching for the Fed’s January meeting minutes, out Wednesday, Feb. 18—a release that has the potential to sway rate-cut odds and ripple into high-multiple growth names.
AppLovin shareholders now face a straightforward near-term question: Does Friday’s jump stick when post-holiday liquidity comes back? And do new analyst notes or filings actually bring answers—or just leave the stock caught up in the market’s AI shootout?
