Duolingo Stock Rockets 35% as Language App Defies Gravity with Surging Subscribers & Bookings
Wall Street's latest love affair? A green owl teaching Spanish.
Duolingo's stock just ripped past analyst expectations—up 35% after smashing subscriber growth and booking targets. The language-learning app now has finance bros muttering 'muy bien' between sips of oat-milk lattes.
Subscribers Flock Like It's Free Rosetta Stone
User growth isn't just climbing—it's scaling the Duolingo tower without pausing for bathroom breaks. The company's gamified approach keeps retention rates stickier than a middle-school Spanish classroom.
Bookings: Not Lost in Translation
Revenue projections got a Duolingo-style 'streak' boost. Turns out, people will pay to maintain imaginary learning streaks—who knew?
The cynical take: Another 'pandemic darling' proving it can monetize boredom better than most tech IPOs. At least this one teaches you something useful between the predatory microtransactions.
Key Takeaways
- Duolingo posted better-than-expected results as user growth surged.
- The language-learning platform increased its bookings, daily active users, and paid subscribers.
- Duolingo boosted its full-year outlook for bookings, adjusted EBITDA, and revenue.
Shares of Duolingo (DUOL) rocketed higher Thursday, a day after the language-learning platform easily beat profit and sales estimates and boosted its outlook on strong user growth.
The company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.91 on revenue that ROSE 41% to $252.3 million. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha expected $0.58 and $240.8 million, respectively.
Total bookings increased 41%, and average daily active users jumped 40% to 47.7 million. Paid subscribers were up 37% to 10.9 million.
CEO Luis von Ahn said the results were driven by "product-led growth, a delightful learning experience, and fast iteration." He explained that Duolingo "made real progress this quarter on initiatives that we believe will fuel the long-term success of our business."
The company now sees its full-year booking expansion at 32.0% to 32.9%, up from the previous outlook of 28.4% to 29.4%. It anticipates adjusted EBITDA of $288.1 million to $295.5 million from a prior range of $271.4 million to $283.9, and it sees revenue of $1.011 billion to $1.019 billion, versus the earlier forecast of $987 million to $996 million.
Duolingo shares had entered the day up less than 6% in 2025.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/DUOL_2025-08-07_10-00-56-b70faa8548e0483092ce5c92ff7459c1.png)
TradingView