Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Up 8.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) shot up 8.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $35.50 and last traded at $31.94. 90,891,542 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 92% from the average session volume of 47,216,582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.56.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Digital

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Huge top?line beat: Q2 revenue rose ~250% YoY to $126.6M, materially topping Street estimates as AI/HPC tenant fit?outs at Polaris Forge 1 ramped — the core driver behind today’s buying. Applied Digital beats quarterly revenue estimates — Reuters
• Positive Sentiment: Big capacity & pipeline: management disclosed a pipeline that supports adding ~900 MW and cited a $16B hyperscale lease pipeline while targeting $1B in NOI over coming years — signaling multi?year revenue visibility. Applied Digital Targets $1B NOI — Yahoo
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Needham reiterated a Buy and set a $41 PT; other firms (Freedom Capital, Arete) have initiated/upgraded coverage — adds conviction and likely attracts buying. Analyst reiterations — TipRanks
• Neutral Sentiment: Operational progress & adjusted results: company reported improved leverage (positive adjusted EBITDA reported in commentary) and executives signaled several multi?year contracts — helpful for medium?term earnings trajectory but timing remains uncertain. MarketBeat recap
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP profitability still weak: the company reported a GAAP EPS miss (loss of $0.11 vs. consensus ?$0.09) and wide negative net margins/ROE; higher costs pushed below?estimate earnings, a reminder of execution/cost risks as scale builds. Earnings miss & cost pressure — Zacks
• Negative Sentiment: Volatility & short?interest risk: the stock has been volatile and previously very high short interest can amplify moves both up (squeeze) and down (rapid reversals) — watch flow and volume. Short interest context — MarketBeat

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on APLD shares. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Applied Digital from $20.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday. Arete initiated coverage on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Craig Hallum increased their price target on shares of Applied Digital to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Lake Street Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.82.

Applied Digital Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $27.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of -28.27 and a beta of 6.89.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.02). Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 37.14% and a negative net margin of 111.29%.The firm had revenue of $126.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $82.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.06) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 250.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Applied Digital

In related news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 9,375 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.91, for a total value of $336,656.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 249,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,950,100.67. This trade represents a 3.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mohammad Saidal Lavanw Mohmand sold 37,503 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.47, for a total value of $1,367,734.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 121,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,427,786.23. This trade represents a 23.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 328,035 shares of company stock valued at $11,376,479 over the last three months. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Applied Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 87.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the third quarter worth $46,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 70.0% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Applied Digital during the third quarter valued at $144,000. Institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

Applied Digital Company Profile

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) is a technology company specializing in the development and operation of large-scale digital infrastructure and sustainable Bitcoin mining solutions. Through its integrated platform, the company designs, builds and manages turnkey data center facilities while also providing comprehensive hosting services for cloud, colocation and enterprise computing needs. Applied Digital’s modular approach to facility design enables rapid deployment of capacity and streamlined integration of power, cooling and network connectivity.

In addition to its data center business, Applied Digital operates a network of Bitcoin mining sites that leverage vertically integrated capabilities, including hardware procurement, mining farm engineering, energy management and real-time performance monitoring.