New York, January 9, 2026, 11:02 EST — Regular session
Applied Digital shares rose about 12% in morning trading on Friday, extending a post-results surge as investors focused on its hyperscaler lease pipeline for AI data centers. The stock was up $3.75 at $35.69 after touching $36.69, with about 36.6 million shares traded.
The move keeps the small-cap data center builder on traders’ screens at a moment when markets are rewarding signed power and signed customers, not just capacity plans. Contracts drive the story, and the timing matters.
In this business, megawatts are the headline — a measure of the power a data center can draw — but they only turn into rent once buildings are finished and the customer switches on. That makes lease signings, construction handoffs and funding just as important as any single quarter’s profit figure.
On Wednesday, Applied Digital reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $126.6 million, beating Wall Street forecasts of $88 million, and the shares rose about 7% in extended trading. It also pointed to strong demand for large-scale facilities that support artificial intelligence workloads. Last month, the company said it would spin off its cloud unit and merge it with Ekso Bionics to form an AI-focused company called ChronoScale as it looks to transition into a data-center REIT, a real estate structure that generally distributes most taxable income to shareholders. 1
Applied Digital said it has signed leases with two hyperscalers — large cloud operators — across its two Polaris Forge campuses in North Dakota, totaling 600 megawatts of power and about $16 billion of prospective lease revenue. It said Polaris Forge 1 delivered its first 100 MW building on schedule, and CoreWeave paid about $85 million, including $73 million for tenant fit-out services and $12 million of partial-quarter rent; the company’s legacy hosting business for bitcoin mining customers added more than $41.6 million in revenue. A subsidiary recently completed a $2.35 billion offering of 9.25% senior secured notes due 2030, and the company posted a $31.2 million quarterly net loss; CFO Saidal Mohmand said the liquidity “gives us flexibility to complete construction,” while Applied Digital said it expects to exceed its $1 billion net operating income target within five years. 2
A quarterly report on Form 10-Q and a current report on Form 8-K were filed on Thursday, the company’s investor site showed. Those documents are where investors will look for a cleaner read on the pace of capital spending, financing terms and lease milestones. 3
Applied Digital has also said it is in advanced talks with an investment-grade customer for 900 MW of power across three sites, with a lease possible in early 2026, Barron’s reported. Needham analyst John Todaro said the timing suggested any deal could be signed in phases and reaffirmed a Buy rating with a $41 price target. 4
But the story still hinges on execution. These are big builds with big power needs, and any slip in construction, power hookups or customer demand can push expected cash flows out. After a sharp run, the stock leaves less room for a delayed deal or a surprise funding need.
Next up, traders will watch for concrete progress on any additional hyperscaler lease and for the proposed ChronoScale business combination with Ekso Bionics, which the companies said is expected to close in the first half of 2026. 5
