Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Trading 4.4% Higher - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Applied Digital Corporation's shares rose by 4.4% to $14.65, though the trading volume dropped significantly to 8.86 million shares, indicating reduced investor interest compared to usual activity.
• The company has received buy ratings from twelve analysts, with a current consensus price target of $14.18, reflecting optimism about its growth prospects.
• Despite reporting a revenue increase of 41.3% year-over-year, Applied Digital's earnings per share were negative, showcasing ongoing challenges in profitability.

Shares of Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) traded up 4.4% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $14.79 and last traded at $14.65. 8,864,188 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 38,150,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on APLD. Compass Point upgraded shares of Applied Digital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Applied Digital from $8.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Lake Street Capital upped their price objective on shares of Applied Digital from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Digital currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $14.18.

Applied Digital Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.50 and a beta of 6.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.22.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.12). The company had revenue of $38.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.86 million. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 50.03% and a negative net margin of 107.22%. Applied Digital's revenue was up 41.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.14) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rachel H. Lee sold 24,212 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.00, for a total value of $169,484.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 83,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $585,291. This trade represents a 22.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 11,250 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.22, for a total value of $159,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 317,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,521,775.14. The trade was a 3.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.81% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $139,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 4.0% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,042,035 shares of the company's stock worth $5,856,000 after purchasing an additional 39,945 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 26.2% during the first quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 254,200 shares of the company's stock worth $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 52,700 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 96.6% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 119,963 shares of the company's stock worth $917,000 after purchasing an additional 58,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 15.9% during the first quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 535,921 shares of the company's stock worth $3,019,000 after purchasing an additional 73,718 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.67% of the company's stock.

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.

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