Applied Digital (APLD) Stock Today: Polaris Forge Breakthrough, Insider Sale and Analyst Buzz

Date: 26 November 2025
Ticker: Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: APLD)

Applied Digital Corporation, one of the highest‑profile AI data‑center names in the market, spent today in the spotlight again as investors digested fresh headlines on its Polaris Forge AI campus, insider selling, and a wave of bullish — but increasingly debated — analyst targets.

Below is a consolidated, news‑style look at everything material that hit today (26 November 2025) around Applied Digital stock, plus how it fits into the broader APLD story.

APLD share price today: modest rebound after heavy volatility

As of late trading on 26 November 2025, Applied Digital shares were changing hands around $24.06, up roughly 1.3% from a prior close near $23.74. The stock traded between $23.70 and $25.09 on the day, on volume of about 10 million shares, underscoring ongoing high activity in the name. ^[1]

Key current stats: ^[2]

Last price: ~$24.06
Previous close: ~$23.74
Intraday range (today): $23.70 – $25.09
Volume (today): ~10.0 million shares
Market cap: ~$6.7 billion
52‑week range: $3.31 – $40.20
P/E ratio: negative (loss‑making), around ‑20.8

A MarketBeat “instant alert” published today, titled “Applied Digital (OTCMKTS: APLD) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?”, focused on earlier trading where APLD opened sharply lower around $22.66 vs. a prior close of $23.79 and traded near $22.36, a drop of about 4% on heavy volume. ^[3]

That article highlighted: ^[4]

Low liquidity ratios (current and quick ratios around 0.4)
A debt‑to‑equity ratio a bit above 1
A negative earnings multiple and very high beta (~6–7), underscoring how volatile APLD can be

Taken together, the numbers paint a familiar picture: fast‑growing but highly leveraged and very volatile AI‑infrastructure stock that can move double‑digit percentages intraday.

Today’s headlines: what changed for Applied Digital on 26 November 2025

Here are the key same‑day stories related to Applied Digital that dropped on 26 November 2025, and what they mean:

AI Chips Today – Polaris Forge completion (Simply Wall St) ^[5]
APLD shares gap down – Time to Sell? (MarketBeat) ^[6]
5 Stocks to Buy Before Santa Claus Comes to Town – Applied Digital featured (MarketBeat/Finviz) ^[7]
Ella Benson sells APLD shares worth ~$199k (Investing.com) ^[8]
APLD Opinions on Polaris Forge Campus Completion – sentiment, insiders, and hedge funds (QuiverQuant) ^[9]
3 ‘Strong Buy’ Technology Stocks Backed by Top Analysts – APLD included (TipRanks) ^[10]
“Is Now The Time To Buy Applied Digital?” – updated research view (StockStory, updated today) ^[11]
APLD 2026 stock forecast and analyst target roundup (TickerNerd, updated today) ^[12]
Algorithmic technical call: “Sell candidate” with high volatility (StockInvest) ^[13]

The rest of this article unpacks each of those themes in plain language.

Polaris Forge 1: 100 MW now live — the core bullish narrative

The single biggest fundamental story underpinning today’s coverage is the formal recognition by several outlets that Applied Digital has finished Phase II at its Polaris Forge 1 AI Factory Campus in Ellendale, North Dakota.

What actually changed on the ground

On 24 November 2025, Applied Digital announced that the second 50 MW phase of Building 1 at Polaris Forge 1 has reached “Ready for Service”. ^[14]
That brings Building 1 to a fully energized 100 MW of critical IT load, completing the first of three contracted buildings at the campus. ^[15]
The broader Polaris Forge 1 campus is a 400 MW AI “factory” fully contracted to CoreWeave, a major GPU cloud provider, under long‑term leases. ^[16]
Together with a separate ~$5 billion lease at Polaris Forge 2, total contracted revenue from the Polaris complex in North Dakota is now about $16 billion, according to company disclosures summarised by StockTitan and others. ^[17]

How today’s media framed it

Simply Wall St’s “AI Chips Today” column, published this morning, highlighted that the extra 50 MW expansion at Polaris Forge 1 doubles Building 1’s capacity to 100 MW and showcases Applied Digital’s ability to deliver AI‑ready infrastructure on schedule. ^[18]
The piece also underscored that the build‑out is part of a fully contracted 400 MW deployment for CoreWeave, positioning APLD as a key back‑end player in the AI chips ecosystem rather than a chipmaker itself. ^[19]

Separately, Investing.com recently noted that APLD stock rallied after the Phase II completion news earlier this week, framing the milestone as validation that management can execute large‑scale projects on time in a capital‑intensive, power‑constrained market. ^[20]

Bottom line: Today’s commentary broadly treats Polaris Forge 1 reaching 100 MW as a major proof‑point for APLD’s AI data‑center strategy and its relationship with CoreWeave, even as concerns linger about how all that growth is being financed.

Social‑media & sentiment: execution vs. debt overhang

A fresh QuiverQuant “DiscussionTracker” post today pulled together chatter from X (Twitter) about Polaris Forge and Applied Digital. ^[21]

What bulls are talking about

Many posts celebrate the “AI campus milestone” — Polaris Forge 1’s first 100 MW building now fully energized — as evidence that APLD can deliver large, high‑density AI infrastructure at speed. ^[22]
The fact that this is only the first building of a fully contracted 400 MW complex is fuelling speculation that revenue and EBITDA could ramp sharply as more megawatts come online. ^[23]

What bears are worried about

The same QuiverQuant recap notes that plenty of users are increasingly uneasy about: ^[24]

High borrowing costs, including a recent $2.35 billion senior secured notes deal that commentators describe as “steep” high‑yield financing. ^[25]
A business model that still runs negative operating and free‑cash‑flow margins, forcing the company to rely heavily on debt and external capital. ^[26]
The possibility that if AI enthusiasm cools or capital markets tighten, leverage could amplify downside.

This tension — capex‑heavy growth vs. balance‑sheet risk — is one of the central themes across today’s written research as well.

Insider activity: Director Ella Benson cashes out $199k

Another headline today came from Investing.com, which reported a fresh Form 4 insider transaction by director Ella G. Benson. ^[27]

Key details from the filing: ^[28]

On 24 November 2025, Benson sold 8,581 shares of Applied Digital.
The trade was executed at weighted‑average prices between roughly $21.14 and $23.79, for a total value of about $199,250.
The filing notes that the sale was made under a prearranged trading plan (10b5‑1), though that doesn’t change the optics of insiders consistently selling into strength.

QuiverQuant’s dataset adds context: over the last six months, insiders have executed 19 open‑market transactions in APLD — all of them sales, with zero purchases. CEO Wes Cummins alone sold about 400,000 shares, and the CFO and several directors have also reduced holdings. ^[29]

For short‑term traders, persistent insider selling alongside rising leverage is one of the main bearish talking points that resurfaced in today’s discussion.

Wall Street stays bullish: “Strong Buy” consensus and hefty upside targets

Despite the balance‑sheet anxiety, traditional analysts remain overwhelmingly positive on APLD, and several platforms updated or spotlighted that view today.

TipRanks: part of a trio of “Strong Buy” tech stocks

A TipRanks article today listing “3 ‘Strong Buy’ Technology Stocks Backed by Top Analysts” singled out Applied Digital as one of the three names: ^[30]

It notes that over the last three months, all eight “Top Analysts” covering APLD rate it a “Strong Buy.”
The piece also points to Craig‑Hallum’s George Sutton, who recently reiterated a Buy rating, citing the potential of the Polaris campuses as AI demand for GPU‑dense data centers accelerates.

TickerNerd: consensus targets north of $40

A newly updated APLD forecast page on TickerNerd aggregates Wall Street targets and shows: ^[31]

10 Buy ratings, 0 Hold, 0 Sell in its compiled universe.
A median 12‑month price target around $42.50, implying roughly 75–80% upside from prices in the mid‑$23s at the time of the snapshot.
A target range from about $39 on the low end up to $56 on the high end.

TickerNerd lists recent target moves from firms like Needham, Craig‑Hallum, HC Wainwright, Lake Street, Northland, JMP and Roth, all clustered in the mid‑ to high‑$30s and low‑$40s. ^[32]

QuiverQuant: social + analyst lens

QuiverQuant’s dashboard, also highlighted today in its Polaris campus piece, tallies nine buy/outperform‑style ratings and zero sells, plus double‑digit price targets from the same analyst cohort. ^[33]

In short, sell‑side remains firmly in the bull camp, largely on the thesis that Polaris Forge, and follow‑on campuses, could turn Applied Digital into a central “picks and shovels” provider to the AI boom.

Santa‑rally angle: MarketBeat names APLD a top AI rebound candidate

In a MarketBeat article syndicated through Finviz today — “5 Stocks to Buy Before Santa Claus Comes to Town” — Applied Digital lands as stock #3 on the list. ^[34]

The author’s main arguments: ^[35]

GPU capacity from Nvidia is described as “sold out”, implying persistent scarcity of AI compute.
Any company offering GPU‑as‑a‑service via purpose‑built data centers, like APLD, is positioned to benefit from that shortage.
The article notes that demand for capacity at Applied Digital’s second campus is strong enough that management expects it to be effectively sold out before completion.
Based on analyst trends, MarketBeat’s data suggests potential upside of around 80% from current levels if targets are achieved.

This framing puts Applied Digital squarely in the high‑beta AI infrastructure basket that some investors are looking to accumulate into a possible year‑end or early‑2026 rebound.

Counterpoint: StockStory urges caution despite growth

Balancing the bullish analyst chorus, StockStory published a freshly updated research note today titled “Is Now The Time To Buy Applied Digital?” with an update timestamp of 26 November 2025, 12:02 a.m. EST. ^[36]

Their key points: ^[37]

Revenue growth has been very strong, with annualised growth north of 60% over the last few years and a recent quarter that beat Wall Street revenue estimates by more than 15%.
However, operating margins remain deeply negative (roughly ‑35% last quarter) and the company has a history of heavy cash burn, with free‑cash‑flow margins deeply in the red.
Over the last year, StockStory estimates roughly $1 billion of cash burned, with about $700 million in debt versus ~ $74 million of cash, leaving a high‑risk balance sheet in their view.
They calculate a forward EV/EBITDA multiple around 59x, which they consider stretched given the company’s financial profile.
Their conclusion: Applied Digital is “decent” operationally but too leveraged and cash‑hungry at current valuation, so they’d prefer to wait for debt to fall or profitability to improve before considering the stock attractive.

This is the sharpest public critique of the risk side of the APLD story to hit today and it directly counters the idea that all AI infrastructure plays are automatically good value even after a pullback.

Quant and technical lenses: high‑risk, high‑beta

StockInvest: “Sell candidate” but in a strong rising trend

Technical analysis site StockInvest.us updated its APLD commentary yesterday and carried that view into today’s outlook for the 26 November session. ^[38]

Highlights:

APLD closed Tuesday around $23.74, after swinging intraday from roughly $21.41 to $23.74 — a ~10.9% range in a single day. ^[39]
Their system classifies Applied Digital as a “Sell candidate” since 11 November, with a drawdown of around 17% since that signal. ^[40]
Nevertheless, they note the stock remains in the lower part of a very wide upward trend channel, with a modelled three‑month upside potential of ~47% and a “very high risk” profile due to extreme daily volatility. ^[41]
For today’s session, their model projected an opening near $22.96 and a possible intraday range from about $22.23 to $25.25 — a predicted swing band of roughly ±13.6%. ^[42]

StockTwits: volatile favorite with a big following

On StockTwits, APLD is tracked by tens of thousands of users, with live data today showing: ^[43]

Market cap ~$6.7B
50‑day moving average near $28.26 (well above today’s price)
Beta around 2.5, indicating significantly higher volatility than the broader market

Together, these technical views reinforce what most traders already feel in their gut: APLD is a high‑octane, trend‑driven name where both upside and downside can be extreme.

Local politics: zoning fight around a new AI data center

While not strictly stock‑specific, regional politics around Applied Digital’s North Dakota projects also surfaced in coverage this week and feeds into the risk conversation.

An article from InForum (Fargo‑Moorhead) describes how the city of Harwood rejected a proposed deal with Fargo that would have withdrawn annexation efforts tied to an Applied Digital AI data center. ^[44]

The facility would cover about 160 acres, but Applied Digital has sought to purchase roughly 925 acres in the area, partly to be closer to power infrastructure. ^[45]
Local officials have been debating which municipality controls taxation and zoning for the massive AI data‑center footprint.

For investors, this is a reminder that large‑scale AI campuses depend not just on capital and chips, but also on land‑use decisions, politics and grid connections — all of which can add friction and delay.

How today’s news fits the bigger Applied Digital story

Zooming out, the themes across today’s coverage are surprisingly consistent:

Bullish side

Execution: Polaris Forge 1’s first 100 MW building is fully energized, on time, with 400 MW fully contracted to CoreWeave. ^[46]
Demand backdrop: Nvidia’s GPUs and AI compute capacity remain heavily oversubscribed, which supports demand for GPU‑rich data centers like APLD’s. ^[47]
Analyst support: Wall Street is overwhelmingly positive, with a cluster of Buy ratings and targets commonly in the high‑30s to low‑40s, implying large upside from current prices if growth plans materialize. ^[48]

Bearish side

Leverage & cash burn: Independent research highlights large negative free cash flow, heavy recent cash burn, and substantial debt relative to cash, making the story sensitive to funding conditions and execution risk. ^[49]
Insider selling: Multiple insiders, including top executives and directors, have steadily sold stock and not bought, which some view as a yellow flag. ^[50]
Extreme volatility: Both MarketBeat’s gap‑down alert and StockInvest’s technical write‑up emphasize double‑digit intraday swings and high beta, meaning position sizing and risk management matter a lot. ^[51]

In short, today’s news flow doesn’t fundamentally change the APLD story — it amplifies it. Polaris Forge is progressing and attracting bullish headlines, but the cost and risk of building an AI‑first infrastructure empire at this speed are increasingly front‑and‑center in more cautious analysis.

What investors will likely watch next

Based on today’s updates and recent filings, here are the key catalysts and questions around Applied Digital going forward:

Ramp‑up at Polaris Forge 1 and 2
- How quickly does CoreWeave ramp its usage of the first 100 MW?
- When do next phases at Polaris Forge 1 and Polaris Forge 2 hit “Ready for Service”? ^[52]
Financing and balance sheet
- How are proceeds from the $2.35 billion senior secured notes and other financings deployed?
- Does management take further steps to refinance, de‑risk or stagger maturities? ^[53]
Profitability trajectory
- Do upcoming quarters show improving operating and cash‑flow margins, or does cash burn remain elevated despite higher revenue? ^[54]
Regulatory and local‑political issues
- Does the North Dakota zoning/annexation wrangling around APLD’s land resolve smoothly, or does it introduce delays or cost overruns? ^[55]
Short interest and volatility
- With substantial short interest and high beta, every new headline — positive or negative — can trigger outsized moves. Traders will be watching for short‑squeeze setups or further downside momentum depending on news and macro tone. ^[56]

Important note

This article is a journalistic summary of publicly available information as of 26 November 2025 and is not financial advice. It does not make any recommendation to buy, sell, or hold APLD or any other security. Always perform your own research and consider consulting a licensed financial adviser before making investment decisions.

References

Applied Digital (APLD) Stock Today: Polaris Forge Breakthrough, Insider Sale and Analyst Buzz – 26 November 2025