Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Price Up 8.5% – Time to Buy?

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) shares traded up 8.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $39.00 and last traded at $37.69. 47,956,457 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 11% from the average session volume of 43,229,152 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.74.

Trending Headlines about Applied Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large call-option activity: Traders bought ~164,196 APLD call options on Friday (≈36% above typical call volume), signaling heightened bullish positioning that can amplify upward price moves.
• Positive Sentiment: Delta Forge 1 groundbreak — capacity expansion: Applied Digital announced it has broken ground on Delta Forge 1, a campus designed for 430 MW total utility power (initially enabling ~300 MW IT load) to serve hyperscalers and AI workloads. This materially increases future revenue capacity and supports the company’s long-term AI infrastructure thesis. Delta Forge 1 groundbreak
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade: Texas Capital upgraded APLD to a “strong-buy,” which can attract additional institutional interest and support higher valuation expectations. Analyst upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/strategic analysis: A Seeking Alpha piece frames Applied Digital as a fast-growing AI data-center operator with meaningful pipeline (cited ~$16B prospective lease revenue across 600 MW) but notes the business is at a “sensitive juncture”—highlighting growth potential alongside execution and financing risk. Seeking Alpha analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings transcripts available: Recent Q4 2024 and Q2 2025 earnings transcripts were published; prior quarter showed strong revenue growth (reported +250% YoY) but an EPS miss and negative margins — data investors will parse for guidance, unit economics and customer/booking details. Q4 transcript: Q4 2024 transcript — Q2 transcript: Q2 2025 transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Caution from media personality: Jim Cramer mentioned APLD and urged investors to “take profits,” a short-term bearish sentiment that can trigger profit-taking among retail holders. Jim Cramer take-profits remark

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on APLD shares. Freedom Capital raised Applied Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Applied Digital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $41.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Digital to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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 capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.80 and a beta of 6.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.67. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 7th. The company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.02). The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 250.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.06) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other Applied Digital news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $425,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 233,378 shares in the company, valued at $8,273,250.10. This trade represents a 4.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ella G. Benson sold 42,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $1,502,685.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 69,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,444,736.80. This represents a 38.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 368,053 shares of company stock worth $13,251,886 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 56,450.0% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

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.