Douglas A. McIntyre
Tue, November 18, 2025 astatine 8:45 AM CST 4 min read
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Duolingo (DUOL) shares dropped 45% successful 1 period aft missing gross estimates contempt 41% gross maturation to $252M.
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Duolingo spent lone 10% of gross connected selling compared to 30-40% for competitors similar Coursera and Udemy.
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Both Duolingo co-founders sold banal weeks earlier the net illness and person not bought shares astatine existent prices.
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Once a darling banal connected communities similar Reddit and X, DUOL is being tar and feathered aft mediocre earnings.
One viral station titled "Duolingo Got Creamed and I Still Think It's Overvalued" dominated the speech connected r/stocks and r/investing.
The net study itself could beryllium work arsenic mixed. Revenue climbed 41% year-over-year to $252.27 million, though it missed expert estimates of $260.35 million. Daily progressive users surged 36% to implicit 50 million, and operating income jumped 145.79% to $33.4 million. Yet the market's absorption was brutal. Volume spiked to 13.06 cardinal shares connected November 6th (five times mean levels), and selling unit has persisted ever since. What triggered specified a convulsive reversal successful a institution posting beardown maturation metrics?
The displacement successful sentiment stems from heavy skepticism astir Duolingo's quality to prolong its premium valuation and integrated maturation trajectory. A elaborate investigation by Reddit idiosyncratic rarebirdcapital gained monolithic traction, accumulating 481 upvotes and 156 comments connected r/stocks alone. The station argues that adjacent aft losing $10 cardinal successful marketplace capitalization, the banal remains overvalued, stating: "I inactive deliberation it's overvalued, and I deliberation the just worth is astir $162/share." This implies 9% further downside from existent levels.
Duolingo Got Creamed and I Still Think It's Overvalued
by
u/rarebirdcapital in
stocks
The bearish lawsuit rests connected 3 cardinal concerns that resonate crossed concern communities:
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Marketing outgo trajectory: Duolingo presently spends conscionable 10% of gross connected selling compared to 30-40% for competitors similar Coursera (NASDAQ:COUR) and Udemy (NASDAQ:UDMY). As the station notes: "As the integrated maturation from its amusive and edgy marque representation fades, Duolingo volition request to walk much connected selling to support its idiosyncratic acquisition." Marketing expenses could triple to support idiosyncratic acquisition, crushing margins.
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Creative Talent Is Leaving: Zaria Parvez, the designer down Duolingo's viral societal media presence, departed the company.
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The Product Is Getting Worse: Long-time users study the level has "become worse implicit time," with changeless A/B investigating that prioritizes monetization implicit education.

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