Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Needham & Company LLC Analyst Says

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC to $48.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 37.22% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on APLD. Northland Securities set a $56.00 price target on Applied Digital in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Arete Research initiated coverage on Applied Digital in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on Applied Digital to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.33.

Applied Digital Trading Down 3.8%

NASDAQ:APLD opened at $34.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $28.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.00. The company has a market capitalization of $10.00 billion, a PE ratio of -47.27 and a beta of 7.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. Applied Digital has a 52-week low of $4.20 and a 52-week high of $42.27.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The company reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $108.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.47 million. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 15.91% and a negative net margin of 52.84%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 139.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Applied Digital will post -0.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other Applied Digital news, Director Chuck Hastings sold 45,987 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $1,773,718.59. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 388,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,979,508.04. This trade represents a 10.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of APLD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 36.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,168,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $592,601,000 after purchasing an additional 6,445,908 shares during the last quarter. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $138,380,000. Situational Awareness LP grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 11,339,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,034,000 after purchasing an additional 5,274,905 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 24,356.8% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,219,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,561,000 after purchasing an additional 5,198,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marex Group plc grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 38,484.6% in the 4th quarter. Marex Group plc now owns 3,904,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,745,000 after purchasing an additional 3,894,639 shares during the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Signed a large hyperscaler lease that materially expands contracted revenue — a 15‑year, roughly $7.5 billion lease at the Delta Forge 1 AI campus, pushing total contracted revenue to over $23 billion. This is the main catalyst behind recent rallies and increases the share of investment‑grade-backed revenue. Applied Digital signs $7.5 billion AI data center lease
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support is rising — Needham raised its price target to $48 and maintains a buy rating, signaling more upside in analyst models. Needham raises price target
• Positive Sentiment: Other broker support — Lake Street reiterated a buy rating, keeping institutional sentiment on the constructive side. Lake Street Keeps Their Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually high call option activity indicates speculative/bullish positioning ahead of or after the lease news — large call volumes can amplify intraday moves as traders adjust positions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary is mixed — outlets are highlighting the strong AI infrastructure story but warning about the valuation vs. execution gap (“Is it too late to buy?”), which can temper buying enthusiasm. Fool: Is it too late to buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in the public feed shows a zero/NaN reading for April 24, which appears to be a data anomaly and should not be over‑interpreted absent confirmation from official short‑interest filings.
• Negative Sentiment: Fundamentals and risk factors remain: Applied Digital reported an April quarter EPS miss and still shows negative margins and negative ROE — plus a high beta (~7) and elevated volume, which makes the stock prone to sharp swings and profit‑taking after big intraday gains. These factors likely contributed to today’s pullback despite the big contract news.

Applied Digital Company Profile

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.