New York, January 8, 2026, 18:22 EST — After-hours
- APLD shares rose about 8% in after-hours trading after a sharp intraday swing
- Revenue topped estimates as the company pointed to long-term AI data-center leasing demand
- Focus shifts to new lease conversions and Friday’s U.S. jobs report
Applied Digital Corp (APLD) shares rose about 8% in after-hours trading on Thursday after a volatile session, as investors digested the company’s quarterly update and its push to lock in long-term customers for AI-focused data centers. The stock was last up 8.0% at $31.94 after ranging from $30.61 to $35.44.
The move matters because the market has been paying up for companies that can secure power and signed contracts for artificial intelligence workloads, not just talk about them. Those contracts can help fund the buildout — and blunt the risk of having to tap equity markets at the wrong time.
Applied Digital sells capacity that is measured in megawatts — a rough proxy for how much electricity a site can deliver to servers — and it has been trying to move up the food chain from “space and power” into high-performance computing (HPC), meaning large server clusters used to train and run AI models.
Applied Digital reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $126.6 million, beating analysts’ average estimate of $88 million, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. CEO Wes Cummins pointed to the Dakotas’ “cool climate and abundant energy” as a draw for large cloud firms, often called hyperscalers. 1
In its earnings release, the company said Polaris Forge 1 reached “ready-for-service” and delivered 100 megawatts on schedule, part of a 400-megawatt AI campus under contract to CoreWeave. It also reiterated an approximately 15-year lease with a U.S.-based investment-grade hyperscaler for 200 megawatts at Polaris Forge 2, and said it was in advanced discussions with another investment-grade customer; it raised its expectation to exceed $1 billion in net operating income (NOI) within five years. 2
A quarterly filing showed Applied Digital had $1.91 billion in cash and cash equivalents at Nov. 30 and about $2.30 billion when restricted cash is included. Long-term debt, net, was $2.59 billion, including $2.35 billion of 9.25% senior secured notes due 2030 — a form of borrowing backed by collateral — issued at 97% of face value, the filing said. 3
Needham analyst John Todaro reaffirmed a Buy rating and a $41 price target, Barron’s reported, saying the next leg for the shares depends on how fast additional leasing converts into signed agreements and delivered capacity. 4
But execution risk sits in the middle of the trade. Applied Digital is funding a capital-heavy buildout and still needs to turn construction milestones into steady rent and hosting cash flow; delays, cost overruns, or slower customer spending could hit sentiment quickly in a stock that can move double digits in a day.
For Friday’s session, traders will watch whether APLD holds above the $30 area and whether Thursday’s $35 handle comes back into view. The next hard catalyst is macro: the U.S. Labor Department’s December employment report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, followed by December CPI on Tuesday, while the company’s IR calendar lists no upcoming events. 5
