Gamification and artificial intelligence are "a winning combination" for language-learning app maker Duolingo , according to Bank of America. Analyst Nat Schindler, who reiterated his buy rating on the company, boosted his price target on Duolingo shares to $160 from $105. Shares closed at $136.63 on Wednesday, and the firm anticipates shares could rise about 17%.
"We believe the company is still in the early stages of monetization and initiatives such [as] regionalized pricing, more custom content will drive better paid conversion and grow [long-term value]/user[s]," the analyst added. "We think Duolingo investors will look favorably at the large addressable market, differentiated and extensible platform, and strong future margin growth potential … which warrant a significant premium to peer group comps," Schindler said.