Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Jumps 4.5% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Applied Digital shares rose 4.5% to about $20.39 on trading volume 26% above the daily average, although the stock remains below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive but widely divided: the consensus rating is “Moderate Buy” with a $59.75 price target, while individual targets range from $22 to $75 and include both Buy and Sell ratings.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting an adjusted loss of $0.01 per share versus estimates of $0.30, while revenue surged 367.8% year over year to $300.39 million. CEO Wes Cummins and President Jason Gechen Zhang also made substantial stock purchases, totaling more than $6.6 million.

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) shares traded up 4.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $20.44 and last traded at $20.39. Approximately 29,249,488 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 23,122,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APLD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $22.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Monday, October 19th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price target (up from $66.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $41.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $59.75.

Applied Digital Trading Up 4.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.43 and a beta of 5.99. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $24.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.60. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $300.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.29 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 51.28% and a negative return on equity of 27.21%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 367.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.03) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Digital Corporation will post -2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Applied Digital

In related news, CEO Wes Cummins bought 55,803 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $18.04 per share, with a total value of $1,006,686.12. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,874,453 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,975,132.12. This trade represents a 0.96% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Jason Gechen Zhang purchased 300,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.86 per share, for a total transaction of $5,658,000.00. Following the acquisition, the president owned 2,839,227 shares in the company, valued at $53,547,821.22. This trade represents a 11.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Digital

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 244.3% during the 1st quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $56,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 691.8% during the second quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,536 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 28.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,092 shares of the company's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.67% of the company's stock.

Applied Digital Company Profile

Applied Digital Corporation NASDAQ: APLD develops and operates digital infrastructure designed to support high-performance computing and artificial intelligence applications. The company provides data-center capacity, hosting services and related infrastructure for customers that require substantial computing power and energy resources.

Its business includes high-performance computing data centers and cloud services intended to support artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptocurrency mining and other compute-intensive workloads.

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