Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Trading Up 8.5% – What’s Next?

Shares of Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) rose 8.5% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $39.00 and last traded at $37.69. Approximately 47,956,457 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 11% from the average daily volume of 43,229,152 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.74.

Key Applied Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital broke ground on Delta Forge 1, a large AI “factory” campus initially designed for 430 MW (up to ~300 MW critical IT load) with planned scalability beyond 2028 — a material growth/capacity catalyst for hyperscaler demand and long?term lease revenue potential. Delta Forge 1 announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Texas Capital upgraded APLD to a “strong?buy” (reported via Zacks), lending third?party institutional support to the bullish narrative and likely encouraging buy interest among momentum traders. Analyst upgrade (Zacks)
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large options activity: traders bought ~164,196 call contracts today — ~36% above the typical call volume of 121,086 — indicating elevated bullish/speculative positioning that can amplify upside through gamma and hedging flows (and likely contributed to intraday strength).
• Neutral Sentiment: A recent Seeking Alpha piece frames APLD as an AI?infrastructure growth play with big potential (citing up to $16B in prospective lease revenue from 600 MW of capacity) while warning the story is at a “sensitive juncture” — useful context but not a near?term price driver by itself. Seeking Alpha analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors should review the company’s recent earnings/transcripts for detail: Q4 2024 and Q2 2025 transcripts are available — prior quarter showed a revenue beat (large YoY growth) but an EPS miss and negative margins, underscoring growth with ongoing profitability pressures. Q4 2024 transcript Q2 2025 transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Media/TV commentary (Jim Cramer) urged taking profits, signaling caution among some influential retail voices and highlighting the stock’s volatility and frothy sentiment—this can trigger short?term selling or increased pullback risk. Jim Cramer coverage

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. B. Riley increased their price target on Applied Digital to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Texas Capital raised Applied Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Lake Street Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.27.

Applied Digital Trading Up 8.5%

The firm has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.80 and a beta of 6.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.37. The company has a current ratio of 4.82, a quick ratio of 4.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $126.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $82.22 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 43.49% and a negative return on equity of 13.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 250.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.06) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.54, for a total value of $385,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 200,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,105.86. The trade was a 4.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ella G. Benson sold 42,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $1,502,685.70. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 69,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,444,736.80. This represents a 38.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 368,053 shares of company stock worth $13,251,886. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 84.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 18,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 8,692 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Digital by 239.1% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 33,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 23,457 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Applied Digital by 113.3% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 3,542 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $71,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $66,000. 65.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Applied Digital

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.