Well, just look who decided to show up to the party. After a couple of quarters where Wall Street treated its earnings reports like a bad meme, Reddit (RDDT) finally posted a set of numbers so impressive that investors had no choice but to hit the upvote button. The stock rocketed over 15% Friday morning, and for once, the enthusiasm feels like it’s about more than just short-term hype.

Let’s get into the numbers, because they’re honestly pretty staggering. The company announced revenue growth of 78% year-over-year, hitting $500 million for the second quarter. That wasn’t just a beat —- it was a demolition of the $425 million analysts were expecting. This marks the company’s fastest growth in three years. Adjusted earnings per share also came in hot at $0.92, comfortably ahead of the $0.72 consensus.

So, what changed? For the past two quarters, the market has hammered the stock for one specific reason: a slight miss in US daily active users (DAUs). This was chalked up to changes in Google’s search algorithm, which, according to some analysis, drives nearly half of Reddit’s traffic. It was the elephant in the room, and investors couldn’t see past it.

This quarter, the elephant is still there. US DAUs came in just a hair below expectations again. But this time, investors seem to have listened to the story the company is trying to tell. CEO Steve Huffman acknowledged the “headwind” from Google traffic but pointed to a new, powerful narrative: Artificial Intelligence.

Reddit is aggressively positioning itself not just as a social media platform, but as a foundational data source for the AI revolution. The company’s “other revenue,” which includes licensing its vast troves of human conversation to train AI models, jumped 24%. We know about the big-ticket deals with Google and OpenAI, each reportedly worth a cool $60 million. Huffman is pushing the idea that this is a “huge opportunity,” citing data that Reddit is the single most referenced domain for training AI.

Furthermore, they’re not just selling the data; they’re using it. Their own AI-powered search tool, Reddit Answers, saw its weekly user base explode from one million to six million in just a single quarter. The vision here is to become a “true search destination,” a direct competitor, perhaps, to the very search giant that has caused it so much traffic volatility.

It’s this forward-looking story, combined with a blockbuster forecast for the third quarter, that has changed the stock’s trajectory. Management guided for Q3 revenue between $535 million and $545 million, crushing the $473 million Wall Street had penciled in.

For months, the market punished Reddit for its reliance on Google. Now, it seems investors are finally buying into the company’s long-term plan to monetize its unique data set and insulate itself from the whims of third-party algorithms. The stock has a long way to go to reclaim its former highs, but after this report, it’s clear the narrative has fundamentally shifted. The question now is whether this AI tailwind can become a sustainable engine for growth. For now, the market is giving them the benefit of the doubt.

All I know is simple: my IPO Edge subscribers are cheering Reddit here above $180 because we got in below $60. Not “$160” where the stock was before earnings. Just $60. We’d made over $100 per share before this latest round of cheering.

That’s the power of long-term conviction in a world full of nerves and second guessing. And we do this again and again and again.