APLD Stock Today, November 19, 2025: Applied Digital Holds Near $23 as New S‑8 Filing Follows AI Data Center Debt Surge

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: APLD) — one of 2025’s most volatile AI infrastructure plays — is trading roughly flat to modestly higher today after filing a new Form S‑8 with the SEC and as investors continue to digest a wave of multi‑billion‑dollar financing for its AI data centers.

APLD stock price today: trading around $23 after wild swings

By early afternoon on November 19, 2025, APLD shares are changing hands at around $23, with an intraday range roughly between $22.40 and $24.25 and volume already above 18–19 million shares, versus an average daily volume of about 30.5 million. ^[1]

Over the last 12 months, Applied Digital’s share price has been on a roller coaster:

52‑week low: about $3.31
52‑week high: about $40.20
Latest price (~$23): still up several hundred percent from the low, but more than 40% below the recent peak. ^[2]

Recent coverage from outlets like The Motley Fool has repeatedly highlighted APLD as a “little‑known AI stock” that at one point was up more than 300% in 2025, underscoring how steep this year’s rally — and subsequent pullback — has been. ^[3]

Today’s trading action looks more like consolidation after last week’s violent reaction to new debt and equity financing than the kind of outsized move investors saw earlier in November.

New today: Applied Digital files S‑8 for 15 million additional shares

The most concrete piece of company‑specific news dated November 19, 2025 is regulatory, not operational: Applied Digital has filed a new Form S‑8 with the SEC to register additional shares under its equity incentive plan. ^[4]

Key points from the filing:

The company is registering 15,000,000 additional shares of common stock under its 2024 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan, as amended.
Shareholders approved the plan amendment on November 5, 2025, increasing the share reserve by those same 15 million shares. ^[5]
These new shares are in addition to 12,000,000 shares previously registered on an earlier S‑8 in 2024 for the same plan. ^[6]
Applied Digital is classified as a large accelerated filer, confirming its rapid growth in market capitalization. ^[7]

StockTitan’s summary of the S‑8 notes that the filing is neutral in sentiment, emphasizing that this registration is about employee, director, and service‑provider compensation, not a cash capital raise by itself. ^[8]

However, from a market perspective, an extra 15 million shares reserved for stock‑based compensation does:

Slightly increase potential dilution over time
Reinforce how heavily Applied Digital is relying on equity awards to recruit and retain talent in an extremely competitive AI and data center market

Alongside the S‑8, StockTitan’s feed shows a new Form 424B3 dated November 19, 2025, for Applied Digital — a type of prospectus often used to cover resales of existing securities by current holders rather than fresh issuances by the company. Detailed terms of the latest 424B3 haven’t yet circulated widely, but it adds another technical supply overhang for traders watching the tape closely. ^[9]

Options and positioning: call‑heavy but cautious sentiment

Options data and derivatives‑focused coverage out today paint a picture of guarded optimism rather than outright euphoria.

A TipRanks item from The Fly notes “mixed options sentiment in Applied Digital Corp with shares up about 0.9%”, with APLD trading near $23 and options volume relatively moderate versus recent extremes. ^[10]

On the structural side, Fintel’s latest data show:

Open‑interest put/call ratio ≈ 0.54, meaning there are nearly twice as many calls as puts outstanding — a skew that typically signals bullish positioning. ^[11]
Open interest is spread across near‑term expiries in late November and December 2025, as well as longer‑dated strikes out to 2027, reflecting both traders and longer‑term speculators. ^[12]

Taken together, the options market suggests:

Plenty of speculative interest remains after last week’s selloff.
Investors are not aggressively piling into protective puts even as the stock trades far below its 52‑week high.
But the absence of extreme call‑buying today also hints that traders are waiting to see how the financing and new share registrations play out before betting on another leg higher.

Hedge fund and AI‑themed enthusiasm still present

Applied Digital also continues to show up in AI and data‑center thematic screens.

An Insider Monkey article on “Top 10 Stocks Offering High Upside Potential in Data Centers and AI,” published in mid‑November but still widely circulated today, lists APLD among its highlighted names. The piece points out that: ^[13]

The stock carries significant upside to consensus hedge‑fund target estimates (they cite upside of roughly 80% at the time of writing).
28 hedge funds held positions in Applied Digital in the latest 13F filings, underscoring institutional interest in the AI data center theme.

This kind of coverage reinforces why APLD remains a headline AI infrastructure stock on many retail and quant screens, even as traditional credit analysts and value investors worry about leverage and dilution.

The backdrop: $5B AI lease, $2.35B notes and Macquarie funding

Today’s relatively calm tape only makes sense when set against what happened over the last month.

Landmark $5 billion AI infrastructure lease

In late October, Reuters reported that Applied Digital signed a $5 billion AI infrastructure lease with a U.S. hyperscaler for 200 MW of AI capacity at its Polaris Forge 2 campus in North Dakota. The deal is expected to run about 15 years, pushing the company’s total leased capacity at its Polaris Forge campuses to around 600 MW once fully executed. ^[14]

Tech and data‑center trade publications have highlighted this lease — and earlier agreements with CoreWeave and other hyperscalers — as a cornerstone of Applied Digital’s pitch that it is building “AI factories” with multi‑billion‑dollar, long‑term revenue visibility. ^[15]

Macquarie’s up‑to‑$5B preferred facility and extra $787.5M

On November 12, Applied Digital announced that Macquarie Asset Management plans to provide an additional $787.5 million of preferred equity financing under an up‑to‑$5 billion facility, to be deployed across its Polaris Forge 1 and Polaris Forge 2 campuses. ^[16]

Highlights from that release:

$450 million is earmarked to help build out Polaris Forge 2, where 200 MW has already been leased to an investment‑grade U.S. hyperscaler that also holds first refusal rights on an additional 800 MW at the campus. ^[17]
$337.5 million will go to Polaris Forge 1 in Ellendale, North Dakota, contingent on the closing of the senior secured notes offering.
The funding is characterized as “non‑dilutive” preferred equity at the project level, helping to reduce the need for further common stock issuance. ^[18]

$2.35 billion of 9.25% senior secured notes due 2030

One day later, on November 13, Applied Digital’s subsidiary APLD ComputeCo LLC announced the pricing of a $2.35 billion offering of 9.25% senior secured notes due 2030, issued at 97% of face value. ^[19]

According to the company:

Proceeds will fund construction of its 100 MW and 150 MW ELN‑02 and ELN‑03 data centers at Polaris Forge 1, refinance existing bank debt, fund debt‑service reserves and pay transaction costs. ^[20]
The notes will be secured by first‑priority liens on substantially all of APLD Compute’s and its guarantor subsidiaries’ assets tied to the facilities. ^[21]

S&P Global Ratings has assigned Applied Digital a ‘B+’ credit rating with a positive outlook, reflecting both the growth opportunity in AI data centers and the elevated leverage profile created by these financings. ^[22]

Fundamentals: huge revenue growth, thin profits and rising debt

While today’s S‑8 is technical, the core fundamental story comes from Applied Digital’s fiscal Q1 2026 results, released on October 9 and still central to any APLD stock analysis.

For the quarter ended August 31, 2025, Applied Digital reported: ^[23]

Continuing‑operations revenue: $64.2 million (+84% year‑over‑year)
Net loss attributable to common shareholders: $27.8 million (‑$0.11 per share)
Adjusted net loss: $7.6 million (‑$0.03 per share)
Adjusted EBITDA: $0.5 million

Operationally, the company has already achieved scale at its flagship site:

Polaris Forge 1 (400 MW) is now fully leased to CoreWeave, with management citing roughly $11 billion in anticipated contracted lease revenue over about 15 years. ^[24]
Applied Digital has broken ground on Polaris Forge 2, a 300 MW IT load AI campus near Harwood, ND, and expects the initial 200 MW to come online in 2026, reaching full capacity in 2027. ^[25]

On the balance sheet, before the November notes and new Macquarie draws, the company ended Q1 with: ^[26]

Cash: $114.1 million
Debt: $687.3 million (excluding subsequent financing proceeds)

The combination of rapid capacity build‑out, thin EBITDA margins and heavy capex explains why markets reacted so violently to the November financing announcements: they extend Applied Digital’s runway but also significantly increase leverage and financial complexity.

Why the stock got hit last week — and why it’s stabilizing now

Multiple market commentaries over the last week, including from Yahoo Finance, StockStory and The Motley Fool, linked Applied Digital’s sharp double‑digit percentage drop to investor concerns about: ^[27]

The size and cost of the $2.35B 9.25% notes
The perception of a mounting “debt pile” across AI data‑center names
Potential equity dilution, including preferred stock and equity incentives
The sector’s vulnerability if AI infrastructure demand or funding conditions soften

One widely shared analysis framed the financing wave across APLD and peers as a potential “debt bomb” for the AI data‑center trade, even as it acknowledged that long‑term leases could support the higher leverage if everything executes as planned. ^[28]

Today’s relatively muted move — a modest gain around the $23 level — suggests that:

Panic selling has cooled, with traders digesting the capital structure reset.
Focus is shifting back to fundamental questions: execution risk, lease quality, and long‑term cash flows from the AI campuses.
The new S‑8 filing, while not a direct catalyst for the business, reminds investors that share count creep will be part of the story as Applied Digital scales.

Bull vs. bear view after today’s news

Putting all of today’s information in context, here’s how the debate around APLD stock is shaping up.

The bullish case

Supporters of APLD emphasize:

Locked‑in, long‑term AI demand: multi‑year leases with CoreWeave and a major hyperscaler at Polaris Forge 1 and 2, with billions in anticipated contracted revenue. ^[29]
Hypergrowth: revenue up 84% YoY, and a multi‑GW development pipeline that could push annualized NOI toward $1 billion within five years, according to management commentary. ^[30]
Thematic tailwinds: frequent features in AI and data‑center stock lists, plus growing hedge‑fund interest, keep APLD in the spotlight for momentum and thematic investors. ^[31]
Project‑level funding from Macquarie and others that, on paper, reduces the need for common equity issuance relative to the scale of planned capex. ^[32]

The bearish (or cautious) case

Skeptics counter that:

Leverage is now substantial: adding $2.35B of 9.25% notes on top of hundreds of millions in existing debt and preferred capital leaves little room for execution missteps. ^[33]
Profitability is still minimal: Adjusted EBITDA is close to breakeven, while GAAP losses remain large, even before the full impact of new interest expense. ^[34]
The new S‑8 and 424B3 underscore that dilution risk is real, both from stock‑based compensation and potential resales by existing holders. ^[35]
With short interest over 24% of float, according to StockTitan’s data, APLD remains a battleground name where short squeezes and sharp downturns are both plausible. ^[36]

What to watch next for APLD stock

After today’s filings and relatively calm price action, investors tracking APLD over the coming days and weeks will likely focus on:

Closing of the notes offering
- The company expects the $2.35B notes deal to close around November 20, 2025; any hiccup could rattle confidence in its financing plan. ^[37]
Final terms and market reaction to the 424B3
- Details of the new resale prospectus could clarify how much additional stock overhang exists and which holders may be able to sell.
Further updates on Polaris Forge 1 and 2 milestones
- Ready‑for‑service (RFS) dates, ramp‑up schedules, and any new lease announcements will be scrutinized to see if projected NOI and cash flows are on track. ^[38]
Options and short‑interest dynamics
- With a call‑heavy options book and high short float, APLD remains vulnerable to squeeze‑type moves in both directions. ^[39]
Macro sentiment toward AI infrastructure
- If the market continues to question heavily levered AI infrastructure names, Applied Digital could remain volatile regardless of its own execution.

Bottom line

For November 19, 2025, APLD is holding steady around $23 as the market absorbs a new S‑8 filing for 15 million equity‑plan shares on top of $2.35 billion in senior secured notes and hefty preferred‑equity funding. The long‑term AI data center opportunity remains enormous, but so do the financing obligations now attached to it.

For traders, Applied Digital continues to offer high volatility and deep liquidity. For long‑term investors, today’s news reinforces the central question: can the company convert its multi‑billion‑dollar lease pipeline into sustainable cash flows fast enough to outrun its rising cost of capital and dilution risk?

Disclaimer: This article is for informational and news purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security, or a substitute for your own independent research and judgment.

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