New York, Jan 11, 2026, 07:46 EST — Market closed.
- Applied Digital shares closed the week on a strong note, surging sharply on heavy volume.
- Investors are balancing contract clarity with the risks of a heavily leveraged expansion.
- The next catalyst boils down to this: either more signed leases, or nothing at all.
Applied Digital Corp shares ended Friday at $37.68, gaining $5.75, roughly an 18% jump. The stock moved between $31.83 and $38.30 during the session, with around 86.4 million shares changing hands.
This shift is crucial as the market now views power, land, and funded data-center capacity as tight resources for AI. Small developers securing long-term leases with major cloud clients are seeing their valuations adjust rapidly, for better or worse.
Applied Digital finds itself caught in that crosscurrent. Its backlog is growing, and the funding is lined up, but heavy spending and a significant debt load leave little margin for error in execution.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.81% on Friday, with shares of major data-center players Equinix and Digital Realty jumping 2.36% and 3.67%, respectively. Investors remained keen on AI-related infrastructure. 1
Applied Digital reported fiscal second-quarter revenue surged 250% to $126.6 million, trimming its net loss attributable to common shareholders to $31.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $20.2 million. As of Nov. 30, the company held $2.3 billion in cash against $2.6 billion in debt. A unit wrapped up a $2.35 billion private placement of 9.25% senior secured notes due 2030, backed by assets. It also drew $900 million from a preferred equity facility with Macquarie. CFO Saidal Mohmand said this liquidity “gives us flexibility to complete construction.” 2
The company, which builds and operates data centers tailored for AI and cloud workloads and hosts crypto-focused clients, announced it has inked long-term leases with two hyperscalers — major cloud providers leasing data centers in bulk — covering 600 megawatts (MW) of power capacity across two North Dakota sites. CoreWeave accounts for 400 MW at Polaris Forge 1, while an unnamed U.S.-based investment-grade hyperscaler takes 200 MW at Polaris Forge 2. Applied Digital said this represents about $16 billion in potential lease revenue over the deal durations. CEO Wes Cummins noted that “inbound demand has increased meaningfully” and that talks are advanced with a third investment-grade hyperscaler. The company also plans to spin off its cloud division through a proposed merger with EKSO Bionics, creating ChronoScale. 3
Needham’s John Todaro stuck with a Buy rating and $41 price target, citing the company’s “advanced talks with an IG hyperscaler across 3 sites” that add up to 900 MW, Benzinga reports. 4
Applied Digital has no investor events scheduled on its IR calendar. The replay of the Jan. 7 earnings call is accessible until Jan. 14. 5
But the rally isn’t without risks. Lease negotiations might hit roadblocks, construction schedules could slip, and power delivery remains a bottleneck. The company depends heavily on a handful of major clients and has taken on debt with a steep 9.25% coupon. Should AI spending dip or capital markets tighten, Applied Digital could be forced to pause projects or raise equity at dilutive prices for current shareholders.
