New York, Feb 8, 2026, 08:54 EST — The market is done for the day.
- Applied Digital jumped 25% to finish Friday, wrapping up a turbulent session that saw sharp price swings and trading volume much higher than usual.
- AI infrastructure names snapped higher as investors rushed back in following a rocky stretch, sparking the rally.
- Next week’s U.S. jobs and inflation reports could end up driving movement in high-beta data-center stocks.
Applied Digital Corp jumped 25.5% on Friday, wrapping up at $34.95. The stock traded as low as $27.16 and reached as high as $35.08. About 44.7 million shares changed hands.
Applied Digital’s rally stands out—this is a company embedded in the AI data center sector, where a single headline can whipsaw sentiment. On Friday, U.S. stocks rebounded, with chipmakers at the forefront. The market’s wager: cloud majors will keep funneling cash into AI, fueling ongoing demand for data centers. 1
After a bruising patch for parts of the AI industry, the rebound came as investors questioned if all those rising capital expenses will actually pay off—or just squeeze profit margins further. “It’s not that the trade is over, but it got too pricey,” said Andrew Wells, chief investment officer at SanJac Alpha. 2
Applied Digital pulled away from the pack. Core Scientific shot up 13.6%, with IREN not far behind, climbing 5.1% on Friday. Digital Realty and Equinix, both data-center REITs, added about 4% and 5% apiece.
Applied Digital operates data centers and colocation facilities tailored for artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and blockchain clients. For the quarter ending Nov. 30, the company reported $126.6 million in revenue in its January filing. Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash totaled about $2.3 billion, while debt came in higher, at around $2.6 billion. According to the same filing, Applied Digital signed leases totaling 600 megawatts with two hyperscalers—cloud giants running massive server operations. 3
Back in October, Applied Digital said it had locked in a 15-year lease at Polaris Forge 2, North Dakota—bringing in a U.S. investment-grade hyperscaler for 200 MW of IT capacity, which sets the bar for what the site can process. The same tenant also scored the first right of refusal on another 800 MW, the company noted. 4
Applied Digital is pushing beyond the Dakotas. On Jan. 22, the company announced work has begun on Delta Forge 1, an AI Factory campus planned for the southern U.S. Once fully operational, it aims to draw as much as 430 MW of utility power. The initial phase is targeting a mid-2027 launch. 5
Leasing is still the key issue for the stock, analysts say. Northland’s Mike Grondahl boosted his price target on Applied Digital to $56, up from $40, while sticking with his “Outperform” rating. He cited management’s recent remarks about being deep in talks with an investment-grade hyperscaler—negotiations that could reach as many as three sites and total 900 MW, according to TheFly. 6
There’s a squeeze brewing in positioning. Short interest jumped to almost 86.25 million shares at the Jan. 15 settlement, tallying up to roughly 33.55% of the public float, Benzinga data show. With numbers like that, a shift in the stock can trigger sharper, more chaotic moves. 7
Risks are piling up. Applied Digital’s outlays for fresh campuses keep mounting, with the company still tapping both debt and equity to keep its expansion going. Its latest 10-Q paints a familiar picture—losses continue, and management isn’t shying away: those costs and operating expenses are only expected to rise as the company pursues its bigger plans. 8
The market’s break is brief. Investors now brace for delayed U.S. jobs data on Wednesday, followed by Friday’s Consumer Price Index. Either release has the power to move rate bets, a big deal for data-center firms and growth names that rely on cheap capital. 9
