You know that feeling when you’re scrolling through your portfolio and one stock is just absolutely crushing it while everything else is having an existential crisis? Well, meet Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) – the AI stock that just casually jumped 28% in a single day like it was no big deal.
And before you ask – no, this isn’t some meme stock nonsense. This is actual business fundamentals doing their thing, which is refreshing in a market that sometimes feels like it’s run by caffeinated day traders.
The Earnings Report That Broke the Internet (Well, Wall Street)
Applied Digital basically builds the digital equivalent of luxury apartments for AI systems. Think of them as the landlords of the robot revolution – except instead of dealing with noise complaints, they’re dealing with servers that need to process the entire internet every few seconds.
Their latest earnings were the kind that make analysts reach for their calculators twice just to make sure they didn’t mess up:
- Revenue jumped 84% year-over-year to $64.2 million (analysts were expecting $50 million)
- They locked in $11 billion – yes, billion – in contracted lease revenue
- Their North Dakota campus is now fully booked (who knew North Dakota was the Silicon Valley of AI?)
Real Estate, But Make It Futuristic
Here’s the genius part: while everyone’s trying to build the next ChatGPT, Applied Digital is building the infrastructure that makes all those AI dreams possible. It’s like being the guy who sold pickaxes during the gold rush – except the gold rush is artificial intelligence and the pickaxes are massive data centers.
They’ve got CoreWeave as a major tenant (150 megawatts of capacity), and they’re already breaking ground on a second campus. CEO Wes Cummins says they’re in “advanced discussions” with another hyperscaler, which in corporate speak means “we’re basically printing money over here.”
Wall Street’s New Favorite Child
The analyst upgrades came fast and furious. Roth Capital bumped their price target to $56 – that’s 55% upside from current levels. Needham and Northland also jumped on the bandwagon with their own upgrades, because apparently everyone wants to be friends with the cool kid now.
The stock is now up 372% year-to-date. That’s the kind of return that makes you question every life choice that led you to not buying this stock earlier.
The Big Picture
With hyperscalers expected to spend around $350 billion on AI infrastructure this year, Applied Digital is positioned like the toll booth operator on the highway to the future. Every AI model needs somewhere to live, and these guys are building the neighborhoods.
Sure, the stock has already had a massive run, and yes, past performance doesn’t guarantee future results (thanks for nothing, legal disclaimers). But when you’re providing the foundation for what might be the biggest technological shift since the internet, being up 372% might just be the beginning.
Sometimes the best investment isn’t the flashiest AI startup – it’s the company quietly building the infrastructure that makes everything else possible.