This research aims to explore if and to what extent the IPO-Year R&D investments of 32 Application Software companies return value, as measured through stock performance. By utilizing “Ordinary Least Squares Analysis” and the “Fama-French Three Factor Model,” this research explores how the initial R&D investments in “IPO-Year” impact stock returns during the three years post-IPO. This study is purposed to discover if and how long it takes for the initial R&D investment in the IPO-Year to materialize into stock performance for Application Software companies. However, the research and analysis indicates that R&D expenditures in an IPO-Year is not a statistically significant variable in influencing stock performance.