AppLovin Says 2Q Results Fell Short of Its Standards — Update

By Kelly Cloonan

AppLovin's profit and revenue growth continued in the latest quarter but the advertising company said the results weren't quite up to par with its standards.

The company, which provides software and AI solutions aimed at improving marketing and monetization of mobile apps, reported second-quarter revenue of $1.92 billion, up 53% year over year but toward the bottom end of the guidance range it had provided in May.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the quarter similarly rose but came in below the Palo Alto, Calif., company's forecast range.

Chief Executive Adam Foroughi said AppLovin has always managed its business with the goal of outperforming its own expectations.

"This quarter, we fell short of that standard," he said during a call with analysts. "What matters is that we know what happened and it's already been addressed."

Foroughi said the shortcomings in the latest quarter came down to timing.

The single biggest driver of AppLovin's growth is the performance of its AI models, because when models improve, advertisers get a higher return on their spending and naturally raise their budgets, he said.

Improvements to AppLovin's model performance landed just after the latest quarter ended, making for a lighter pace of improvement than normal during the period, he said.

Foroughi emphasized the company didn't observe any slowdown in advertiser demand or a change in the competitive environment. Additionally, the current quarter is off to a strong, he said.

"The business is back on the trajectory we expect," he said.

Still, the company's third-quarter outlook was softer than Wall Street was looking for.

The stock fell 17% to $346.51 in after-hours trading on Wednesday. At market close, shares were down 38% year to date.

AppLovin posted a second-quarter profit of $1.27 billion, compared with $819.5 million a year earlier. Earnings per share was $3.76, in line with analyst estimates, according to FactSet.

Revenue gained 53% to $1.92 billion, just below analyst estimates of $1.94 billion.

For the current third quarter, Applovin expects revenue of about $2.06 billion to $2.09 billion, compared with the $2.08 billion analysts are forecasting.

The company expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $1.71 billion to $1.74 billion for the quarter, below Wall Street's forecast of $1.76 billion.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 05, 2026 19:36 ET (23:36 GMT)