Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after Lake Street Capital raised their price target on the stock from $70.00 to $90.00. The stock had previously closed at $40.94, but opened at $45.83. Lake Street Capital currently has a buy rating on the stock. Applied Digital shares last traded at $43.9090, with a volume of 7,822,919 shares.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on APLD. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Lucid Cap Mkts raised shares of Applied Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Applied Digital from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price target (up from $53.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $63.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 12,500 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total transaction of $432,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 208,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,207,795.02. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $349,800.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 184,859 shares in the company, valued at $6,466,367.82. The trade was a 5.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 35,000 shares of company stock worth $1,182,175 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Key Applied Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital signed a new 15-year, 210 MW lease at its Delta Forge 2 site with a U.S.-based investment-grade hyperscaler, which could generate about $5.2 billion in revenue and expands its AI Factory footprint to a fifth campus. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company said this deal brings total contracted lease revenue to roughly $36 billion, with about 70% now backed by investment-grade hyperscalers, strengthening confidence in long-term cash flow growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital also secured a revolving credit facility of up to $550 million, which should give it more flexibility to fund expansion and support strategic growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Needham raised its price target on Applied Digital to $83 from $66 and kept a Buy rating, signaling continued analyst confidence after the latest contract wins. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company announced plans to issue $1.59 billion of senior secured notes to help fund the fourth building at Polaris Forge 1, which supports growth but adds leverage and execution risk. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks added APLD to its Rank #5 (Strong Sell) list, which may temper some investor enthusiasm despite the stock’s recent momentum. Article Title

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Applied Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Finally, McMillan Office Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a PE ratio of -57.29 and a beta of 5.69. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $36.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.25.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The company reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.23). Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 15.91% and a negative net margin of 52.84%.The company had revenue of $108.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 139.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.68 EPS for the current year.

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.