New York, January 21, 2026, 19:54 (EST) — After-hours
- Applied Digital ended the day 1.1% lower at $35.06, following a volatile session.
- Texas Capital kicked off coverage, assigning a Buy rating and setting a $42 price target
- Investors await new lease and financing news related to its AI data-center expansion
Applied Digital (APLD.O) shares dipped 1.1%, finishing Wednesday at $35.06. Earlier, the stock swung between $38.00 and $32.33. Volume hit roughly 42.1 million shares.
The stock now acts as a stand-in for a tight race: who can grab power, scale quickly, and lock in lengthy contracts for AI workloads. Even minor news can trigger shifts, and the volatility runs both directions.
This matters because the market is valuing future megawatts — the power capacity that determines how many servers a data center can support — well before the facilities are operational. Investors keep coming back to one key issue: execution and the funding behind it.
Texas Capital’s Derrick Whitfield kicked off coverage with a Buy rating and set a $42 price target, highlighting the company’s “waterless cooling” technology and its land-and-power portfolio, which could reach up to 4.3 gigawatts. 1
Applied Digital is positioning itself as an “AI Factory” developer in North Dakota, focusing on long-term leases for high-performance computing (HPC), the intensive processing needed for AI model training and operation. In its latest quarterly update earlier this month, the company reported 600 megawatts leased across two campuses, including a 400-MW buildout for CoreWeave and a nearly 15-year, 200-MW lease with another investment-grade hyperscaler. It also highlighted major financing moves, like a $2.35 billion private notes offering and preferred equity draws with Macquarie, to support ongoing construction. 2
But the trade isn’t straightforward. The stock trades as if it’s a developer with locked-in tenants and set delivery timelines. The risks are well-known: construction hold-ups, delayed customer approvals, or rising financing costs that eat into returns before cash flow kicks in.
Timing also remains a hurdle. The investor relations calendar lists no events on the horizon, pushing traders to sift through filings, track project milestones, and watch for new lease disclosures to gauge momentum. 3
The next major event to watch is Applied Digital’s upcoming earnings report. Zacks and other market trackers have April 13, 2026, penciled in for the release, even though the company hasn’t officially confirmed a date on its own calendar. 4
