AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) shares were climbing on Monday -- up as much as 7.8% as of 11:10 a.m. ET. Investors reacted to a fresh price target increase from Morgan Stanley and growing anticipation for next week's Axon Ads Manager debut for nongaming advertisers. The move stands out because the firm framed the Oct. 1 launch as a key catalyst that could unlock ad budgets outside gaming, a long-running bull case for AppLovin's platform.

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In this morning's note, Morgan Stanley raised its target to $750 and kept an overweight rating, pointing to the Axon Ads Manager rollout as the most important proof point yet for scaling AppLovin's nongaming business. That follows recent upbeat analyst upgrades from Piper Sandler ($740 target) and UBS ($810 target). Together, these analyst calls reinforced confidence that AppLovin can broaden demand beyond its gaming core.

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Source Fool.com