Pittsburgh, April 26, 2026, 11:03 EDT
Faruqi & Faruqi said Sunday it’s looking into possible claims involving Duolingo Inc., adding to a string of investor alerts triggered by the company’s stock slide. The selloff came after Duolingo focused on ramping up user growth, betting on artificial intelligence, and signaling a willingness to slow near-term monetization. The firm pointed to the February tumble, when Duolingo announced it would pour more resources into AI and settle for lower short-term profits while it pushes for 100 million daily active users by 2028.
Timing is key here. Nasdaq didn’t open Sunday, so the last trade on Duolingo’s Class A shares was Friday, when the stock finished at $103.45. That’s a 3.15% gain for the day, though the price remains well off this year’s $544.93 peak and hovers close to the 52-week low of $87.89.
Duolingo is set to release its first-quarter results after the U.S. market closes on May 4, giving investors a fresh look at the Pittsburgh-based company’s numbers. A webcast is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET that day, according to .
Duolingo isn’t just talking up efficiencies or shoring up its flagship app right now. On April 22, the company said nine of its top courses now offer advanced lessons all the way through B2 on the CEFR scale—the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which runs six levels deep. That’s a step up for most users, who until now could only get to A2, according to Duolingo.
Duolingo’s expanded free content now includes English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, spanning the web, iOS, and Android. According to TechCrunch, the company is throwing down the gauntlet to rivals like Babbel and Busuu, which reserve their advanced courses for paying users. “Reaching job-ready proficiency in a new language used to be out of reach for most people,” said Bozena Pajak, Duolingo’s head of learning science, in a statement.
That lines up with the approach CEO Luis von Ahn outlined back in February. Duolingo closed out 2025 reporting over 50 million daily active users and topped $1 billion in bookings—sales commitments that land before revenue is officially booked. The board signed off on a share buyback plan for as much as $400 million.
Wall Street zeroed in on the price tag of this strategy shift. Back in February, Reuters said Duolingo projected first-quarter bookings of roughly $301.5 million—well shy of Visible Alpha’s $329.7 million consensus. For the full year, the company set guidance in the $1.27 billion to $1.30 billion range, also lagging the $1.39 billion estimate. “If we’re seeing faster user growth than we’re expecting, and what we are expecting is about 20%, then that means the strategy is working,” CEO von Ahn told Reuters. Reuters
The catch is obvious: free access needs to drive a bigger, engaged user base before investors will see returns from subscriptions, ad sales, or even experimental products. Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan trimmed his price target on Duolingo, now set at $100 (down from $105), but held his Neutral stance. Sheridan flagged softness in user growth and engagement, plus ongoing questions around Duolingo’s newer offerings—chess, math, music—as well as the uncertain impact of generative AI on longer-term demand.
Quent Capital boosted its Duolingo stake during the fourth quarter, according to a Sunday report from MarketBeat. The firm’s position hit 12,528 shares—valued at roughly $2.2 million by the end of the quarter—per a Form 13F filing. However, those filings reflect past holdings and don’t confirm if Quent Capital still owns the shares.
For Duolingo, earnings season boils down to a tighter focus than just the mascot’s green owl lore. The company faces a crucial test: can increased freebies actually boost user retention, and will those stickier users still translate into meaningful revenue—without margins taking another hit?
