Duolingo pops on note that signals turnaround may now be here

Yesterday, language-learning app Duolingo rose by the most in nearly a month after analysts painted a more bullish picture of the company despite a dearth of news otherwise.

A quick check-in with analysts covering the stock on Wall Street found most of them flummoxed as to the reason behind the uptick Thursday.

Some suggested the rise may reflect optimism that the company has been able to reverse a monthslong downturn in daily active user metrics — a slump that set in after social media backlash to a somewhat artless LinkedIn post from the company’s CEO about its AI-first strategy.

A bullish analyst note, published by Citizens JMP, proposed that Duolingo could also be a big beneficiary from a change to Apple’s rules governing its App Store driven by a ruling on a federal antitrust case against the company.

At any rate, the next big event on Duolingo’s calendar is its Duocon 2025 conference on Tuesday, where analysts are hoping to hear more hard information on all of the above topics.

After stepping in it with the AI talk, Duolingo has at least been able to achieve a reset around the conversation about the polyglot app.

The Takeaway

Duolingo’s not the only potential winner here, for what it’s worth.

Analysts said that given “Apple’s recent changes to U.S. App Store rules that allow developers to steer payments to the web where fees are similar to typical credit card fees rather than Apple’s 30% fee for in-app purchases and 30% fee on subscriptions for the first year and 15% thereafter, we expect mobile app companies including Duolingo, Life360, and Grindr Inc. to unlock meaningful cost benefits.”