We recently published a list of Why These 15 Software Stocks Are Skyrocketing So Far in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) stands against other software stocks that are skyrocketing so far in 2025.

Software stocks have been spearheading the stock market’s rally over the past two years and there seems to be no slowing down for the broader software industry. Investors who’ve gotten in early into some of the top software stocks right now have realized multibagger returns, and there’s likely more money to be made as the rally continues.

Of course, I’d be lying if I said I knew which stocks would be the ones to deliver parabolic returns next. That said, you could still find them yourself if you look at the top-performing software stocks so far this year. Many of them are gaining significantly for the right reasons. Some of these top-performing software stocks have a long runway and can mature into much bigger companies down the line.

Methodology

For this article, I screened the top-performing software stocks year-to-date. Stocks that I have covered recently will be excluded from this list.

I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds invest in? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here).

A close-up of a mobile device, showing an advertiser reaching out to a consumer via a software-based platform.

AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 51

AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) is a mobile technology company.

The stock is up significantly after its Q4 2024 earnings beat and an AI advertising breakthrough. AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) reported 44% year-over-year revenue growth to $1.37 billion, along with 73% advertising revenue growth to $999.4 million. This was driven by its AXON 2.0 AI engine and its AI-optimized ad placements that extend beyond mobile gaming to other industries.

The AXON tech accounts for two-thirds of its revenue now. With AI models getting better and improving ad targeting efficiency by 40% year-over-year, analysts are quite bullish.

Furthermore, Q1 2025 revenue forecasts of $1.36–1.39 billion (+30% year-over-year at midpoint) exceeded consensus estimates of $1.32 billion.

The consensus price target of $422.18 implies 17.24% downside.

APP stock is up 57.53% year-to-date.

Overall, APP ranks 10th on our list of software stocks that are skyrocketing so far in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of APP as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than APP but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.