Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Up 8.5% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) were up 8.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $39.00 and last traded at $37.69. Approximately 47,956,457 shares changed 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.

More 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

Several analysts have issued reports on APLD shares. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on Applied Digital from $20.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of Applied Digital to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Applied Digital to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.27.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a PE ratio of -69.80 and a beta of 6.89. The company has a quick ratio of 4.82, a current ratio of 4.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.37.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other news, CEO Wes Cummins sold 165,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.42, for a total transaction of $6,009,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,176,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,101,902.18. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ella G. Benson sold 42,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 69,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,444,736.80. The trade was a 38.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 368,053 shares of company stock valued at $13,251,886. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Digital by 56,450.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,129 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.