Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD) experienced a surge in options trading activity on Wednesday, with traders purchasing 16,433 call options on the company. This represents a significant increase of approximately 40% compared to the average daily volume of 11,719 call options. As a result, Applied Digital’s stock saw a 4.5% increase, opening at $6.07 on Thursday.
With a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.08, and a current ratio of 0.08, Applied Digital has faced financial challenges. The company’s fifty-two week low stands at $2.36, while its fifty-two week high reached $8.65. The stock’s fifty-day moving average is $4.80, and its 200-day moving average is $4.42. Applied Digital has a market cap of $832.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.68, and a beta of 4.51.
In its most recent quarterly earnings report on August 28th, Applied Digital announced a disappointing ($0.52) EPS, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.29). The company generated $43.70 million in revenue during the quarter, slightly surpassing analysts’ expectations of $42.70 million. Applied Digital’s negative return on equity of 111.80% and negative net margin of 88.95% further highlight its financial struggles. In the same quarter of the previous year, the company reported ($0.07) EPS. Analysts predict that Applied Digital will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Institutional trading activity has seen hedge funds buying and selling shares of Applied Digital. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in the company in the first quarter, valued at $50,000. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in Applied Digital by 381.8% during the second quarter, now owning 8,749 shares valued at $52,000. ARS Investment Partners LLC also purchased a new stake in the second quarter, worth approximately $60,000. Additionally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC and ICA Group Wealth Management LLC both acquired new stakes in the fourth quarter, valued at $78,000 and $81,000 respectively. Hedge funds and other institutional investors currently own 65.67% of Applied Digital’s stock.
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on APLD. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating with a $10.00 price target, while B. Riley raised their target price from $8.00 to $9.00 and also gave the company a “buy” rating. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating with a $11.00 target price, and HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating with a $5.00 target price. Overall, five investment analysts have rated the stock as “buy.” The average price target for Applied Digital is $8.40.
Applied Digital Corporation, based in North America, specializes in designing, developing, and operating data centers. The company offers digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry, as well as artificial intelligence cloud services, high-performance computing data center hosting, and crypto data center hosting services.