Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $42.87 and last traded at $43.2510, with a volume of 16919474 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $39.88.

Key Applied Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital completed the separation of its cloud business into ChronoScale, creating two pure?play public companies and allowing Applied Digital to concentrate on AI data?center hosting. This corporate simplification is being viewed favorably by investors. Applied Digital Completes Separation of Cloud Business
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital raised $300M to accelerate its data?center expansion, improving near?term funding flexibility to build capacity for AI workloads — a direct catalyst for investor enthusiasm. Applied Digital (APLD) Raises $300M for Expansion, Climbs 6.2%
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital signed a 15?year lease worth $7.5B with an investment?grade hyperscaler at its Delta Forge 1 campus, lifting total contracted lease revenue above $23B and materially increasing long?term revenue visibility. That large, long?dated contract reduces demand risk for new capacity. Applied Digital’s Multi Billion AI Lease Deepens Revenue Visibility And Risks
• Positive Sentiment: ChronoScale (the spun?off company) announced a new CEO, Cenly Chen, signaling governance and operating steps to scale its AI compute business — a development that supports the legitimacy of the separation and may improve investor confidence in both companies. ChronoScale Appoints Cenly Chen as Chief Executive Officer
• Neutral Sentiment: Applied Digital will retain a large ownership stake (~97%) in ChronoScale and invested $15.75M at closing — this preserves economic exposure to the cloud business but means the full value realization from the spin?off may take time. Applied Digital Completes Separation of Cloud Business, Establishing ChronoScale as Independent Public Company
• Negative Sentiment: Risks remain: APLD has negative earnings, a high beta and leverage (debt/equity ~1.65), and execution risk in delivering large campus builds and converting leased capacity into cash flow. These fundamentals temper the upbeat reaction and represent downside if projects or tenant rollouts slip.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APLD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Applied Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Friday, April 24th. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on Applied Digital to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Texas Capital upgraded shares of Applied Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.33.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $28.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.03. The company has a market cap of $12.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -59.57 and a beta of 5.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The company reported ($0.36) earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $108.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 139.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other Applied Digital news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 12,500 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction on 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 $7,207,795.02. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $349,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 184,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,466,367.82. The trade was a 5.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,182,175 over the last ninety days. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Finally, McMillan Office Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. 65.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.