SaaS stocks are sold off as if their businesses are left for dead.
Clearly, fundamentals tell a different story.
Fast-forward 18 months, I bet you the market reprices these 10 stocks...
1) $MSFT - Microsoft
- Price: down -16% YTD ๐ด
- EPS: +23% YoY ๐ข
AppLovin.
As I mentioned yesterday, I've started a new position. Some of you guessed correctly - it is indeed, $APP.
Let's talk a little bit about WHY.
Now, this won't be a my comprehensive thesis paper, but it'll be enough for you to chew on - that it should give you full context as to why I've opened this position.
Let's prefix this with a quote:
"from where we sit, the future has never looked better. We just delivered another quarter where we beat our own guidance."
- Adam, CEO
I agree with this statement.
AppLovin has built this Ad-Engine and ecosystem that is quite brilliant. They have essentially become the marketplace and the intelligence network bundled into one...
Specifically for, Mobile Games.
DSP, SSP, ID graph and creative studio all under one roof. Literally a comprehensive ecosystem that sells-outcomes and generates revenue for Mobile game businesses.
"We're selling revenue and profit to advertisers. So if they're buying profit, they're not going to come and cut the dollar that's driving them the best ROI on their advertising."
- Adam, CEO
Question is how...
Well, I've attached an infographic below to capture exactly how (at the top-level) this business functions right now.
- GameDev wants to buy ad-space.
- Initiates buying through AppDiscovery. (DSP)
- SparkLabs handles the creative video ads.
- AXON 2 engine handles ID matching.
- AXON 2 engine then pushes ID resolution to MAX (SSP)
- MAX is the open auction ecosystem where buyers can BID on available ad-space/impressions in real-time. AppDiscovery is also an active bidder on this same inventory...
Yes, $APP runs the open auction AND bids on their own auction platform...
- AppDiscovery wins a bid and MAX auto-deploys via an SDK integration.
Once that ad is deployed, every ad informs the AXON 2 engine about the interaction (aka, did the viewer click, download etc etc). Each of these experiences improve the AXON algo.
Now some of you may be overwhelmed, but this isn't that complicated! $APP is the:
- Buyer representative: AppDiscovery
- Intelligence Engine: AXON 2.0
- Seller/Auctioneer: MAX
You may say, wait, is this an unfair advantage? perhaps!
AppDisovery allows $APP to see what devs want and are willing to pay.
MAX platform allows $APP to see every bid from all competitors (Google Admob or Meta) - FYI MAX has a ~60% market share of Mobile ad auctions.
AXON 2 allows $APP to understand the ID, their habits, hit rate and value.
Every auction, win or lose - feeds AXON 2 more training data. The flywheel widens the MOAT with literally every impression.
So, in theory - $APP can always out perform and out-bid their competitors for high-valued opportunities found on the MAX platform.
Brilliant.
Now, the forward looking opportunity. Why did Adam say that "from where we sit, the future has never looked better"?
Enter, the open-web.
$APP has decided to bridge into a new competitive realm, and challenge critics that have said "this is a niche" and "they're at the mercy of App ecosystems like Google Play or the AppStore".
The open-web is AppLovin breaking free of this criticism and into a new TAM.
$APP has decided to take the AXON engine and make it available for consumers - think brands, SMBs or e-commerce opportunities.
Example...
Reference the right hand side of the flow chart below.
- Shopify SMB wants to advertise.
- AXON Ads Manager is self-serve, they can use it.
- Creative Assets are auto-populated for the SMB.
- AXON 2 has an expanded inventory for ID matching.
- Mobile games, Connected TV, or Open-web (like blogs).
- AXON 2 identifies the bets opportunity.
- Ad is activated on one of the surfaces.
- Consumer interaction is archived for AXON training.
This breaks $APP free of the 'AppStore' chains and into the highly profitable world of the open-web. This is where potentially true deterministic ID resolution is achievable - no-more ML patchwork required.
What screams opportunity for me, is the likes of CTV, or connected TV.
Think of this like ads on Amazon prime, with a call-to-action button that allows the user to send a product to their phone after seeing it on Prime Video.
$APP wants to create something similar.
Well it just so happens, $NFLX recently announced their CAPI - or conversion API. This API allows a DSP like AXON Ads Manager to verify the conversion (did the viewer click and buy/download?)
This is a fantastic vertical for $APP to scale into - and yeah, it's just one of many.
I think this business model is fantastic, and has the ability to scale $APP into one of the largest DSP/SSP/Consumer Intelligence engines on the planet.
Some of you may be confused on concerned about my $ZETA position - you're probably asking, does this conflict?
Short-answer; right now - no.
Long-term, maybe.
$APP right now, is focused on SMBs - not specifically the enterprise. They're partnered with $SHOP to have a comprehensive SDK that allows them to farm SKU data from SMBs POS interactions. Adam said this himself...
"When we open up our platform in June and start pursuing our mission of helping all the businesses in the world add another material marketing channel ... We've always said we want to help the smaller businesses scale."
- Adam, CEO
So for now, $ZETA and $APP remain in two completely different lanes. They both could provide deterministic ID resolution for their clients, but their customers are of a different class.
- $ZETA owns robust data capture rails across the open-web.
- $APP is breaking into this space and will be building their very own social media platform that plugs into their well oiled machine.
@CapexAndChill remains to the $APP expert I refer to. This is a company that I am studying - comfortable enough to start a position with confidence, but I do defer to his expertise. I'd recommend you to follow him for more $APP content.
Anyways - the future is very bright for both of these companies and I'm comfortable holding each long-term.
I expect to scale this position to 2nd or 3rd largest in my portfolio.
This is not investment advice.
Cheers, Nick.
$APP
The best investment decision you can make for your next investment is to learn from the top performers -
Here are the top 20 performers of 2026-
1. $SNDK | Flash and Storage solutions
2. $AAOI | Optical Transceivers
3. $AXTI | Semiconductor Wafer Substrate
4. $AEHR | Semiconductor Test Equipment
5. $LWLG | Photonic Devices
6. $ICHR |Semiconductor Equipment
7. $BE | Fuel Cells & Energy Solutions
8. $AMPX | High-Energy Batteries
9. $INTC I Semiconductors
10. $VIAV | Network & Test Solutions
11. $VICR | Power Modules
12. $FORM | Semiconductor Test Systems
13. $WDC | Data Storage
14. $POWL | Electrical Solutions
15. $SIMO | NAND Controllers
16. $STX | Data Storage
17. $LITE | Optical & Photonic Solutions
18. $CIEN | Networking Systems
19. $MRVL | Semiconductors & Infrastructure
20. $NBIS | Infrastructure & Cloud
Bookmark this post for research before you make your next investment.
Youโre closer to retiring than you think (real):
- Make $500,000
- Put it in the S&P 500 at 12% annually
- Earn $60k/year in passive income
- Travel the world and enjoy life
What's holding you back?