New York, January 11, 2026, 18:30 (ET) — The market has closed.
- Applied Digital shares ended Friday at $37.68, marking roughly an 18% rise.
- The rally came after a week packed with updates on leases, financing, and AI data center construction.
- Traders are eyeing Monday for fresh customer contracts and new construction milestones.
Applied Digital (APLD) shares surged roughly 18% on Friday, with investors rushing into the data-center builder ahead of the weekend. The stock finished at $37.68, swinging between $31.83 and $38.30 on heavy volume near 86 million shares.
This shift is crucial because the AI expansion has morphed into a battle over power and physical infrastructure, not just semiconductor supply. Firms capable of providing megawatts — the essential power units for data centers — are catching the market’s attention.
Applied Digital occupies that space. It sells high-performance computing, or HPC, capacity—data center space and power designed for demanding workloads—and investors have been watching lease announcements as the key metric.
The Dallas-based firm posted fiscal second-quarter revenue of $126.6 million, a 250% jump from the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA climbed to $20.2 million, even as it recorded a $31.2 million net loss to common shareholders. CoreWeave now has 400 megawatts contracted at its Polaris Forge 1 site, with an unnamed U.S. investment-grade hyperscaler locking in a roughly 15-year lease for 200 megawatts at Polaris Forge 2. That brings total leased capacity to 600 megawatts. Management also revealed advanced talks with a second investment-grade hyperscaler. CEO Wes Cummins said, “The Dakotas represent a compelling region for hyperscalers.” CFO Saidal Mohmand added, “This strong liquidity position gives us flexibility to complete construction,” referencing a $2.35 billion notes offering and nearly $2.3 billion in cash, equivalents, and restricted cash. 1
B. Riley bumped up its price target on Applied Digital to $53 from $47, maintaining a buy rating. The firm highlighted the chance for additional hyperscaler deals as the company advances initial energization and development at its North Dakota locations, TheFly reported. 2
Other crypto-to-AI infrastructure stocks, like Hut 8 and Core Scientific, also gained on Friday as investors doubled down on the “power for AI” theme.
There’s a downside too. In its latest quarterly filing, Applied Digital flagged risks like reliance on key clients, access to financing, and the challenges of finishing construction and obtaining permits — typical execution risks that can surface fast when a stock’s value is based more on future leases than on current earnings. 3
Traders will be watching closely this week for any news that converts “advanced discussions” into finalized deals, along with sharper timelines on when new capacity will hit the market. Many have circled the company’s upcoming earnings report on April 13, 2026, as the next major update. 4
