Applied Digital stock rose more than 6% in after-hours trading on July 27 after the company reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates on nearly every major metric.

The stock was trading around $26.91 before the earnings release.

Applied Digital Corp. (APLD) posted revenue of $258.7 million for the quarter, a 581% increase from a year earlier. The result beat the analyst consensus estimate of $104.3 million by 148%.

The company said the revenue increase was driven by new AI infrastructure deployments and stronger demand from hyperscale customers seeking specialized compute capacity, underscoring how demand for large-scale compute and hosting services remains central to the company’s growth story.

On the bottom line, APLD reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.04, compared with analyst expectations for a loss of $0.19 per share. The result marked a shift into positive territory for a company that remains in a heavy buildout phase.

Adjusted EBITDA was $42.35 million, ahead of the $29.78 million estimate by 42.2%. The adjusted operating margin improved to 1.2%, up 9.3 percentage points from the same quarter last year.

Free cash flow came in at negative $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared with negative $191.4 million in the same period last year, reflecting the scale of the company’s ongoing infrastructure spending.

Backlog da $20 Billion attira l'attenzione

The biggest catalyst for the stock move was Applied Digital’s announcement of a $20 billion order backlog tied to a major hyperscaler.

The backlog includes multi-year commitments for compute infrastructure and hosting services, giving the company long-term revenue visibility that many early-stage data center operators do not have. For investors and industry watchers, that kind of contracted demand is one reason the company’s results are being viewed in the context of the broader AI infrastructure buildout.

Management said the backlog will support continued expansion and provide a stable base for future earnings.

CEO Wes Cummins said: “Nearly three years ago, we made a deliberate decision to build a company that scales, not just a company that builds data centers.”

The company also said its HPC Hosting Business began operations at its first HPC data center at the Polaris Forge 1 campus during the quarter, leading to recognition of approximately $270.6 million related to tenant fit-out services.

Prospettive degli analisti

Wall Street currently rates APLD a Strong Buy, based on seven Buy ratings and one Hold over the past three months.

The average price target is $71.50, which implies upside of more than 171% from recent levels. Those estimates may be revised after the earnings report.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to increase 59.2% over the next 12 months. That is slower than recent growth, but still a strong pace.

Analysts’ full-year EPS forecasts point to a more cautious outlook. Over the next 12 months, the figure is expected to swing from $0.10 to -$1.29, reflecting continued capital expenditure as Applied Digital expands.

Applied Digital has grown revenue at a 172% annualized rate over the past four years, making it one of the faster-growing companies in the data center sector.

The company had a market capitalization of $7.77 billion heading into the earnings release.