AppLovin price target raised to $40 from $32 at DA Davidson

DA Davidson analyst Franco Granda raised the firm’s price target on AppLovin to $40 from $32 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The company’s Q2 earnings beat and better than expected Q3 outlook was driven by efficiency gains achieved by its new AI-fueled marketing tool, AXON 2, and these gains should attract increased ad spend to the platform, accelerating top line growth that is independent of a market recovery, the analyst tells investors in a research note.