• Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) received a significant price target increase to $65 from Roth Capital, signaling an 81% potential upside.
  • A new $7.5 billion long-term lease with a hyperscaler for 300 megawatts of AI infrastructure has boosted total contracted revenue to over $23 billion.
  • Despite a 12.09% stock surge and positive market reaction, some analysts maintain a "Hold" rating due to a high valuation of 195x EV/aEBITDA.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) is a leading company that designs, builds, and operates advanced data centers. These facilities are specifically engineered for demanding high-performance computing (HPC) and cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. On April 23, 2026, Roth Capital analyst Darren Aftahi increased the price target for Applied Digital to $65, representing a potential 81% upside from its price of $35.91 at the time. This optimistic investment outlook highlights the company's strong position in the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure market.

This positive outlook is significantly supported by a major new contract. As highlighted by Reuters, Applied Digital signed a substantial long-term lease worth approximately $7.5 billion with an unnamed U.S.-based hyperscaler. A hyperscaler is a very large-scale cloud service provider that requires massive data center capacity to run its extensive services, underscoring the critical demand for Applied Digital's specialized infrastructure.

The landmark deal, which spans an estimated 15-year term, is for Applied Digital's Delta Forge 1 AI Factory campus. It covers 300 megawatts of power specifically for advanced AI infrastructure. This strategic agreement increases the company's total contracted lease revenue to over $23 billion and adds a third major hyperscale client, significantly diversifying its customer base and strengthening its market presence in the AI data center sector.

While Applied Digital benefits from high demand for data centers, some analysts suggest caution. A Seeking Alpha analyst assigned a "Hold" rating with a lower price target of $31.17. This is primarily due to a high valuation of 195x EV/aEBITDA, a key metric that compares a company's enterprise value to its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, suggesting significant growth is already priced into the stock.

Following the news of the hyperscaler contract, the market reacted positively. Applied Digital's stock price increased by 12.09% to $36.35, with a high trading volume of over 43.05 million shares. This robust market activity brings the company's market capitalization, which is the total value of all its outstanding shares, to approximately $10.39 billion, reflecting investor confidence in its future growth prospects within the AI infrastructure market.