App marketing platform AppLovin late Wednesday crushed Wall Street's estimates for the third quarter. AppLovin stock surged to record heights in extended trading.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company earned $1.25 a share on sales of $1.2 billion in the September quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 92 cents a share on sales of $1.13 billion. In the year-earlier period, AppLovin earned 30 cents a share on sales of $864 million.
On a year-over-year basis, AppLovin earnings rose 317% in the third quarter while sales increased 39%.
For the current quarter, the company forecast revenue of $1.25 billion based on the midpoint of its outlook. Analysts had been looking for $1.18 billion in the fourth quarter.
AppLovin's software platform enables app developers to market, monetize and analyze their apps. The company also makes mobile games such as "Wordscapes," "Matchington Mansion" and "Game of War."
"We had another fantastic quarter in Q3," Chief Executive Adam Foroughi and Chief Financial Officer Matt Stumpf said in a shareholder letter.
"Our Axon models continue to improve through self-learning and, more importantly this quarter, from technology enhancements by our engineering team," they said. "As we continue to improve our models, our advertising partners are able to successfully spend at a greater scale. We're proud to be a catalyst to reinvigorating growth in our industry."
AppLovin's Axon technology facilitates matchmaking between advertisers and publishers.
AppLovin Stock Takes Off Following Q3 Report
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, AppLovin stock rocketed more than 28% to 216.01. During the regular session Wednesday, AppLovin stock advanced 2% to close at 168.55. Earlier in the day, it reached a regular-session record high of 176.99.
On Aug. 22, AppLovin stock hit a buy point of 91.91 out of a six-week consolidation pattern, according to IBD MarketSurge charts.
AppLovin stock is on the IBD Tech Leaders list.
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