Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD – Get Free Report) and Kingsoft Cloud (NASDAQ:KC – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability and dividends.
Profitability
This table compares Applied Digital and Kingsoft Cloud’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Applied Digital | -51.28% | -27.21% | -5.23% |
| Kingsoft Cloud | -5.49% | -7.85% | -2.41% |
Volatility and Risk
Applied Digital has a beta of 5.99, suggesting that its stock price is 499% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kingsoft Cloud has a beta of 1.96, suggesting that its stock price is 96% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Applied Digital and Kingsoft Cloud, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Applied Digital | 2 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 2.84 |
| Kingsoft Cloud | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2.83 |
Applied Digital currently has a consensus target price of $59.75, suggesting a potential upside of 227.40%. Kingsoft Cloud has a consensus target price of $16.67, suggesting a potential upside of 96.31%. Given Applied Digital’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Applied Digital is more favorable than Kingsoft Cloud.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
65.7% of Applied Digital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.4% of Kingsoft Cloud shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.5% of Applied Digital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of Kingsoft Cloud shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Applied Digital and Kingsoft Cloud”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Applied Digital | $611.31 million | 9.03 | -$244.00 million | ($1.64) | -11.13 |
| Kingsoft Cloud | $1.37 billion | 1.88 | -$133.88 million | ($0.28) | -30.32 |
Kingsoft Cloud has higher revenue and earnings than Applied Digital. Kingsoft Cloud is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Applied Digital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Applied Digital beats Kingsoft Cloud on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Applied Digital
Applied Digital Corporation designs, develops, and operates datacenters in North America. Its datacenters provide digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry. The company also provides artificial intelligence cloud services, high performance computing datacenter hosting, and crypto datacenter hosting services. The company was formerly known as Applied Blockchain, Inc. and changed its name to Applied Digital Corporation in November 2022. Applied Digital Corporation is based in Dallas, Texas.
About Kingsoft Cloud
Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Limited provides cloud services to businesses and organizations primarily in China. The company's products portfolio includes cloud products, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS) infrastructure, platform as a service (PaaS) middleware, and software as a service (SaaS) applications that primarily consist of cloud computing, network, database, big data, security, storage, and delivery solutions. It offers research and development services, as well as enterprise digital solutions and related services. The company also provides public cloud services to customers in various verticals, including video, e-commerce, intelligent mobility, artificial intelligence, and mobile internet; and enterprise cloud services to customers in financial services, public service, and healthcare businesses. Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Limited was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.
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