The ad-tech stock is heading for its longest losing streak in more than two years. But it's still up more than fivefold in the past year.

AppLovin Corporation Inc. saw one of 2024's most dramatic rallies, but the stock fell hard Wednesday following critical reports from short sellers.

The bearish reports came as shares of the advertising-technology company, which helps apps make money, had been already been pulling back sharply from their Feb. 14 record close. AppLovin's chief executive called the reports "littered with inaccuracies and false assertions."

The stock (APP) fell 12.2% in volatile trading.

It has now plummeted about 36% amid a seven-day losing streak, which would be the longest such streak since the seven-session stretch that ended Dec. 9, 2022.

Culper Research said Tuesday that it's taken out a short position in AppLovin's stock - a bet that prices will fall - owing to a pair of concerns regarding the app-monetization company's business.

The report questioned whether AppLovin is as valuable as it says it is to the advertisers participating in its e-commerce program and alleged that AppLovin uses "gimmicks" to "force-feed silent, backdoor app installations directly onto users' phones."

Fuzzy Panda Research also said it was short the stock, saying it was informed by "experts" that the bull case on the e-commerce business relies on copying Meta Platforms Inc.'s data.

Each of the short sellers mentioned the other in their reports.

"It's disappointing that a few nefarious short sellers are making false and misleading claims aimed at undermining our success, and driving down our stock price for their own financial gain, rather than acknowledging the sophisticated AI models our team has built to enhance advertising for our partners," Chief Executive Adam Foroughi said in a blog post.

He said that each app download "results from an explicit user choice" and that its business model "is both legitimate and profitable for partners."

The stock has been ablaze over the past year, rising more than 400% over that span as it has taken advantage of artificial intelligence to improve its advertising personalization.

The current losing streak started the day after it closed at a record $510.13 on Feb. 14, which gave the company a market capitalization of about $173.5 billion. A year ago, the market cap was just $15.9 billion.

Even with the stock's recent selloff, AppLovin would still place in the 80th percentile of the S&P 500 index's SPX list of most valuable companies. But when the U.S. market benchmark index was rebalanced at the end of 2024, S&P Dow Jones Indices didn't deem the company worthy of membership.

Still, the stock remains a darling of most on Wall Street. Of the 27 analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover the stock, 20 (74%) are bullish, while six are neutral and only one is bearish.

The average stock-price target of the analysts is $541.82, which implies about 73% upside from current levels and is 6.2% above the record close.