Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Price Up 9% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: APLD) shares surged 9% on Thursday, closing at $33.38 after hitting a high of $33.89, although trading volume declined by 33% from its average.
• Several analysts have increased their price targets for APLD, with Needham & Company raising it to $16 and HC Wainwright and Northland Securities setting it at $40, reflecting strong growth forecasts.
• Despite a revenue increase of 84.3% year-over-year to $38.01 million, Applied Digital reported a loss of $0.03 EPS for the quarter, which beat estimates but highlighted its negative net margin of 111.29%.

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) shares rose 9% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $33.89 and last traded at $33.38. Approximately 24,616,761 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average daily volume of 36,638,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on APLD. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Applied Digital from $12.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Applied Digital from $20.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Northland Securities increased their price target on Applied Digital to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Compass Point assumed coverage on Applied Digital in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.70.

Applied Digital Trading Up 9.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock's fifty day moving average is $22.15 and its 200 day moving average is $13.39. The stock has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.54 and a beta of 6.77.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 9th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.08. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 111.29% and a negative return on equity of 37.14%. The firm had revenue of $38.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.15) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Digital news, CFO Mohammad Saidal Lavanw Mohmand sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total value of $1,144,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 201,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,079,468. This trade represents a 27.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Wes Cummins sold 400,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total transaction of $6,104,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,659,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,582,123.54. The trade was a 13.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 506,250 shares of company stock valued at $7,713,675 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 9.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Digital

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLD. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 51.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 101.8% during the third quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 6.0% during the second quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 15,930 shares of the company's stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 124.9% during the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,804 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 1.6% during the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 68,417 shares of the company's stock valued at $689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.67% of the company's stock.

Applied Digital Company Profile

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.

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