Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

30 Dec 2025, 11:09 by Amy Steele · The Cerbat Gem

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD – Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $24.81, but opened at $25.88. Applied Digital shares last traded at $24.76, with a volume of 9,324,104 shares trading hands.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Digital

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

Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital and EKSO announced a proposed business combination to spin out Applied Digital Cloud into a new company called ChronoScale aimed at high‑performance AI compute, positioning the new entity to address growing GPU demand. Applied Digital to Spin Out Cloud Business, Proposes Business Combination with EKSO to Launch ChronoScale
Positive Sentiment: Market reports and trade coverage highlight investor enthusiasm and “spin‑off buzz,” which likely helped lift APLD shares as the market favors clear capital‑allocation moves and standalone AI/cloud assets. Applied Digital Stock Moves Higher on Spin-Off Buzz
Positive Sentiment: Multiple headlines note the AI/cloud spinoff and ChronoScale launch as the direct catalyst for the stock’s gain, reinforcing the narrative that the company is leaning into AI infrastructure demand. Applied Digital Stock Rises on AI Cloud Spinoff Plan and ChronoScale Launch
Neutral Sentiment: Coverage from brokerage/news aggregators lists APLD among top movers after the announcement; these pieces summarize price action but do not add new deal details. Biggest stock movers Tuesday: Applied Digital, FONAR Corporation and Society Pass
Neutral Sentiment: Headline coverage noting a ~3% intraday move after the cloud spinoff announcement—useful for short‑term traders but does not change fundamentals by itself. Applied Digital (APLD) jumps 3% on cloud business spinoff
Neutral Sentiment: Reports note Ekso’s AI‑focused merger intent with Applied Digital; the announcement is an early, non‑binding step and will require definitive agreements, financing and regulatory review. Ekso Bionics Plans AI-Focused Merger With Applied Digital
Negative Sentiment: Recent analysis explains why APLD fell on the prior trading day, highlighting the stock’s volatility, execution risk around restructuring and possible investor concerns about dilution or timing—factors that could counterbalance enthusiasm if the deal stalls or terms change. Why Applied Digital Stock Fell On Friday?
Neutral Sentiment: Additional small‑business coverage summarizes the spin‑out plan without new material details; good for context but not incremental to the market move. Applied Digital to spin out cloud business with Ekso
Neutral Sentiment: Broader AI stock roundups mention APLD among companies that could benefit from an AI upcycle; useful thematic support but not a direct company catalyst. 2 Artificial Intelligence Stocks That Could Soar in the Next Bull Market

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Lake Street Capital raised their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $18.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their target price on Applied Digital to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.20.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on APLD

Applied Digital Trading Up 1.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.00 billion, a PE ratio of -22.19 and a beta of 6.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 9th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 $64.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.15) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rachel H. Lee sold 24,213 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.20, for a total transaction of $803,871.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 59,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,972,080. The trade was a 28.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Mohammad Saidal Lavanw Mohmand sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.08, for a total transaction of $3,408,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 158,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,415,720.96. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 328,035 shares of company stock worth $11,376,479. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Digital during the first quarter worth about $806,000. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 403.4% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 1,464,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,605,000 after buying an additional 1,173,929 shares during the last quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $582,000. Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $184,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 27.7% during the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 41,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Applied Digital

(Get Free Report)

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.