Investing

Why AppLovin (APP), Palantir (PLTR) and Trade Desk (TTD) Are Recovering Today

Ian Cooper

Published: March 19, 2025 10:18 am

With tariff fears, inflationary concerns, fears of recession, growing geopolitical uncertainty, and exhausted investors, it hasn’t been a real shock to see the major indices plummet.

“Bull markets don’t die of old age, they die of fright and are most afraid of recession,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for CFRA, as quoted by Barron’s. “Unfortunately, the greatest uncertainty surrounding this decline and possible recovery is that its major headwind—the tariff tiff—appears far from over.”

Key Points About This Article 

• Even with all of the chaos, traders are using weakness as an opportunity.
• Jefferies just reiterated their buy rating on the APP stock with a price target of $600.
• Palantir is just starting to bounce higher now that most of the negativity has been priced into the stock.
• Nvidia made early investors rich, but there is a new class of ‘Next Nvidia Stocks’ that could be even better. Click here to learn more.

Still, even with all of the chaos, traders are using weakness as an opportunity.

Look at Applovin, for example.

Over the last few weeks, Applovin (NASDAQ:APP) came under massive pressure.

All after short seller reports from Fuzzy Panda and Culper Research questioned APP’s growth outlook and valuation. Fuzzy Panda believes the company’s growth is built on a house of cards. Culper said APP’s success in mobile gaming was tied to the exploitation of permissions on mobile devices.

Despite those reports, Citi analysts maintained their $600 price target on the APP stock with a buy rating. The firm still believes APP’s fundamentals are sound and that e-commerce revenues will improve as its pilot program improves. The firm also believes APP could buy back about $1.2 billion worth of stock this year.

Nowadays, after catching strong support at $234.56, the stock is starting to race higher again. Last trading at $282.20, we’d like to see it initially retest $300. Helping, analysts at Jefferies just reiterated its buy rating on the APP stock with a price target of $600.

Palantir Technologies 

Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) slipped from a high of $125.41 to a recent low of $74.57 on potential Department of Defense budget cuts. However, it’s just starting to bounce higher now that most of the negativity has been priced into the stock.

Analysts at Jefferies say they were impressed with Palantir’s AI platform customer event with case studies showing how PLTR products are transforming businesses.

Trade Desk 

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) was crushed. But it appears most of the bad news is priced in.

Since February, shares of TTD plummeted from a high of about $125 to a recent low of $55.21. All after the company missed revenue estimates.

Granted, fourth-quarter revenue did jump 22% year over year, coming in at $741 million. Adjusted earnings were up 44% year over year to 59 cents. Unfortunately, both were less than expected. Not helping, revenue guidance for the first quarter of 2025 suggests 17% growth year over year, which is well below the 28% revenue growth seen in the first quarter of 2024.

However, according to Founder and CEO Jeff Green:

“Our success to this point has been fueled at least in part by our ability to win trust with investors, partners, our industry and our customers. There are very few things that rival that in importance to us,” Green said, as quoted in the TTD earnings call. “We stumbled due to a series of small execution missteps, while simultaneously preparing for the future. If this were a sporting event, we’d still have a championship-caliber team. But in this particular game, we turned over the ball too many times.”

Nowadays, with a substantial amount of negativity priced into TTD, the stock is starting to pivot, as the company attempts to right the ship.