AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ: APP) shares jumped nearly 20% to $325.52 in Thursday’s premarket trading after the advertising technology company reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings and issued a fourth-quarter revenue forecast above Wall Street estimates.
The company reported third-quarter revenue of $2.185 billion, up 55% from a year earlier and above analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. Revenue also exceeded the upper end of AppLovin’s previous third-quarter guidance by approximately $100 million, according to Chief Financial Officer Matthew Stumpf. GAAP diluted earnings per share reached $4.30, exceeding the $4.03 consensus estimate. Net income increased 72% to $1.439 billion.
AppLovin’s Q4 Revenue Forecast Tops Estimates
AppLovin projected fourth-quarter revenue of $2.365 billion to $2.395 billion, above Wall Street’s $2.25 billion estimate. The outlook implies sequential revenue growth of 8% to 10%, down from approximately 14% in the third quarter.
The company also forecast adjusted EBITDA of $1.995 billion to $2.025 billion, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 84% to 85%. Third-quarter adjusted EBITDA rose 59% YoY to $1.842 billion, while free cash flow reached about $1.4 billion.
AppLovin’s Advertising Metrics and Stock Performance
In its November 4 Form 10-Q filing, AppLovin attributed its quarterly revenue growth primarily to improved performance of its AppLovin Ads platform. Net revenue per installation climbed 55% YoY, while installation volume grew just 2%.
AppLovin shares had already gained nearly 19% over the first three trading sessions of the week, including a 10.7% advance on Wednesday before the earnings release. Despite the rebound and Thursday’s premarket gain, the stock remained approximately 56% below its 52-week high of $738.01, set in December 2025.
Separately, AppLovin Corp Tokenized bStocks (APPB) was trading at $316.25, up 26% over the preceding 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. The tokenized instrument’s 24-hour performance is distinct from the premarket percentage change in AppLovin’s Nasdaq-listed shares.
AppLovin Details Advertising-Model Rollout and $3.2 Billion Buyback Increase
During an earnings call, CEO Adam Foroughi said AppLovin’s core gaming advertising business grew nearly 50% YoY as the company partially introduced its next-generation advertising models.
Foroughi said the new models had improved advertising performance, with advertisers increasing spending while meeting their target returns on advertising expenditures. The rollout remains incomplete, and management did not provide a date for the full transition.
Stumpf said spending by consumer advertisers increased at a double-digit rate from the previous quarter and a triple-digit rate from a year earlier.
AppLovin also increased its share repurchase authorization by $3.2 billion, bringing its remaining authorization to $3.6 billion as of the end of October.
During the third quarter, the company repurchased and withheld approximately 4.1 million Class A shares at a combined cost of $1.4 billion. The total includes shares withheld to pay taxes on vested equity awards.
Stumpf said management had accelerated repurchases because it believed AppLovin’s market price was disconnected from the company’s intrinsic value. He added that the expanded authorization gave the company flexibility to make further opportunistic repurchases.