NEW YORK, Jan 4, 2026, 9:06 PM ET — Market closed
- Applied Digital shares ended Friday up 14.6% at $28.11, after trading between $24.65 and $28.44.
- The company is due to release fiscal second-quarter results after the close on Jan. 7 and host a conference call at 5 p.m. ET. 1
- Investors are looking for updates on a proposed cloud-business spin-out and the financing needed to build new AI-focused data centers. 2
Applied Digital Corporation shares jumped 14.6% in the last regular session, closing at $28.11 on Friday after swinging as low as $24.65. The move came on volume of about 36.1 million shares.
The rally puts the spotlight on Applied Digital heading into its next earnings update, a key checkpoint for a company that has been funding rapid data-center expansion. Applied Digital said it will issue fiscal second-quarter results after the market closes on Jan. 7 and discuss them on a 5 p.m. ET conference call. 1
That matters because investors are trying to pin down how quickly Applied Digital can turn capacity buildouts into recurring lease revenue, and what that pace means for cash needs. The quarter being reported ended Nov. 30, 2025, giving the market a fresh read on execution heading into 2026. 1
A major overhang is corporate structure. Applied Digital said on Dec. 29 it entered a non-binding term sheet with Nasdaq-listed Ekso Bionics to combine Applied Digital’s cloud computing business with EKSO in a new entity called ChronoScale, an accelerated compute platform designed for artificial intelligence workloads. 2
Under the proposal, Applied Digital would own about 97% of the combined company, and the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to due diligence, final documents and approvals. “Deliver accelerated compute at scale for the most demanding AI workloads,” is the aim of ChronoScale, chairman and CEO Wes Cummins said in the announcement. 2
Financing is also front and center. A filing showed a subsidiary entered a credit arrangement with Macquarie Equipment Capital to fund early costs tied to a new data center project, including a $45 million first draw and an additional $55 million second draw that is discretionary. 3
The loan carries 8% annual interest and includes a “PIK” period — short for pay-in-kind — in which interest is added to principal rather than paid in cash for the first 12 months, the filing showed. The maturity schedule is tied to project milestones including lease execution, underscoring how much the funding model depends on landing customers on time. 3
Applied Digital sells “colocation” — renting power, cooling and space in data centers — and also builds high-performance computing (HPC) capacity, large-scale systems used for AI training and other intensive workloads. In its last reported quarter, the company said revenue rose 84% year-on-year to $64.2 million, driven in part by tenant fit-out work that it described as one-time and low margin ahead of lease revenue that it expected to ramp as installations were completed. 4
But the path is not linear. The ChronoScale plan is non-binding, and the company has flagged risks ranging from customer concentration to access to capital; higher financing costs and project delays can quickly pressure results for data center developers still scaling up. 5
Broader risk appetite helped as 2026 got underway, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finishing Friday higher amid stock-specific swings across tech and infrastructure names. That backdrop can amplify moves in high-beta plays such as Applied Digital. 6
The next catalyst is Applied Digital’s fiscal second-quarter report after the close on Wednesday, Jan. 7, followed by management’s 5 p.m. ET call, where traders will look for progress on lease ramp, funding plans and a clearer timeline for the proposed ChronoScale transaction. 1
