Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: APLD) closed Monday, May 4, 2026 at $35.63, a gain of 6.20% on the session, as investors processed a busy corporate development calendar that has turned APLD into one of the most talked-about AI infrastructure names of 2026. The close came on a day the broader market was under pressure from Middle East geopolitical concerns, making the stock’s outperformance particularly notable.
On May 5, 2026, Applied Digital completed the separation of its cloud business, contributing it to EKSO Bionics Holdings, which renamed itself ChronoScale Corporation and began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker CHRN. Applied Digital received approximately 138 million shares of ChronoScale common stock for the contribution and invested an additional $15.75 million in cash for roughly 1.4 million additional shares. Following the transaction, Applied Digital retained approximately 97% of ChronoScale’s outstanding equity.
The strategic rationale is clear. Applied Digital wants to be valued purely as a high-performance computing and AI data centre operator, and the spin-off of the cloud division removes a segment that was diluting that narrative. The company signed a long-term lease worth $7.5 billion with an unnamed US-based hyperscaler at its Delta Forge 1 site in the weeks before the May 4 close, pushing its total contracted revenue to three hyperscaler relationships.
Applied Digital separately announced a $300 million senior secured bridge facility in the days surrounding the close, led by Goldman Sachs at a rate of SOFR plus 275 basis points, to fund continued development of its Polaris Forge 1 campus in Ellendale, North Dakota.
The company’s fiscal Q3 2026 results, reported in April, showed the kind of headline revenue growth that commands attention. Revenue surged 139% year over year to $126.6 million, beating estimates by 61%, while a 15-year CoreWeave lease for its Polaris Forge 1 campus anchored the contracted revenue base. However, the same quarter also showed a net loss of $100.9 million and free cash flow consumption of approximately $720 million, figures that have kept some analysts cautious despite the revenue story.
Consensus analyst sentiment sits at a “Strong Buy” rating with a 12-month average price target of $38.33, and Needham reiterated its Buy rating with a $48 price target in late April. The stock’s year-to-date performance heading into May 4 showed gains of over 572% against the S&P 500’s roughly 5%, a staggering outperformance driven by hyperscaler deal flow and AI infrastructure enthusiasm.
The $35.63 close puts APLD at a significant discount to the consensus target and well below its recent highs. Investors awaiting clarity on the ChronoScale separation and the ramp timeline on Polaris Forge campuses will be watching the next earnings call closely. With the AI data centre buildout showing no signs of slowing, the company’s positioning as a pure-play HPC operator gives it a compelling platform heading into the second half of 2026.
Ewan is a reporter at the Foreign Policy Journal, primarily covering US current affairs and news related to NYSE-listed stocks. He has over two decades of experience in journalism and digital publishing.
