Key Points
- CEO Wes Cummins sold 165,000 shares on Jan. 16 at an average of $36.42 for about $6.01M, trimming his stake by 3.8% to roughly 4.176M shares (≈$152.1M).
- Financial snapshot: revenue jumped about 250% YoY after a strong quarter, but the company remains unprofitable (Q4 EPS $(0.11), ~43% negative net margin) even as analysts largely maintain Buy ratings and lift targets.
- Market/insider dynamics: the stock rose after the quarter and analyst upgrades, yet clustered insider sales by multiple directors have caused a modest intraday pullback and could damp near‑term sentiment despite management promotions and strong demand signals for GPU hosting capacity.
Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) Director Richard Nottenburg sold 11,606 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.28, for a total value of $409,459.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 245,378 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,656,935.84. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.
Applied Digital Stock Performance
Shares of Applied Digital stock opened at $37.40 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $27.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.67. Applied Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $3.31 and a 12 month high of $40.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.26 and a beta of 6.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 4.82 and a quick ratio of 4.82.
Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.02). Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.53% and a negative net margin of 43.49%.The business had revenue of $126.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $82.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.06) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 250.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 earnings per share for the current year.
Trending Headlines about Applied Digital
Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat ranks APLD as the leading GPU‑as‑a‑Service play for 2026 after a blowout Q4, citing nearly 100% revenue growth, analyst upgrades and advance contracts that suggest the company’s Phase II capacity is largely sold out — a major demand signal for future revenue and margin expansion. The 5 Best GPU-as-a-Service Providers for 2026—And 1 Clear Winner
- Positive Sentiment: Management move: Applied Digital promoted co‑founder Jason Zhang to President, signaling leadership continuity and deeper founder involvement as the company scales data‑center and GPU hosting operations. This supports investor confidence on execution risk. Applied Digital Appoints Co-Founder Jason Zhang as President
- Positive Sentiment: Street momentum: APLD is highlighted in MarketBeat small‑cap features and has seen analysts lift targets and ratings following the quarter, which supports further upside if execution and contract wins continue. 5 Hot Small Caps Setting Up for Big Gains: Buy, Sell, or Hold?
- Neutral Sentiment: Industry/structural analysis: Longer‑term writeups (e.g., Seeking Alpha) discuss a “REIT angle” and capital‑structure considerations for Applied Digital’s asset‑heavy model — useful for evaluating valuation and cash flow durability but not an immediate share‑price catalyst. Applied Digital: The REIT Angle No One Talks About
- Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Multiple director sales have been disclosed this week — Richard N. Nottenburg sold ~23,606 shares across Jan. 14–15 (SEC Form 4), and Director Douglas Miller sold 10,000 shares earlier — prompting reports of intraday weakness tied to insider activity. Investors often view clustered director sales as a short‑term negative signal even when holders remain large. Nottenburg Form 4 (Insider Sale) Miller Form 4 (Insider Sale)
- Negative Sentiment: Market reaction note: Coverage flagged a short‑term pullback after the insider sales (reports noted a ~1–2% intraday decline tied to the disclosures), underscoring that insider activity can temporarily damp momentum despite strong fundamentals. Applied Digital Trading Down Following Insider Selling
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of APLD. Hood River Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 2.8% in the second quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 21,859,031 shares of the company's stock valued at $220,120,000 after buying an additional 592,314 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Applied Digital by 23.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,722,174 shares of the company's stock worth $406,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,062 shares in the last quarter. Situational Awareness LP lifted its holdings in Applied Digital by 63.3% in the second quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 6,591,800 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,379,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556,200 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Applied Digital by 24,356.8% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,219,565 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,561,000 after acquiring an additional 5,198,223 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,199,135 shares of the company's stock worth $73,388,000 after purchasing an additional 537,839 shares in the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
APLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. B. Riley boosted their target price on Applied Digital to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Digital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $33.27.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on APLD
Applied Digital Company Profile
(
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.
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