Markets
markets
Claire Yubin Oh

Applied Digital rises after posting massive Q2 sales beat, with management in “advanced discussions” to add another hyperscaler client

Applied Digital is up 4.7% in premarket trading as of 8 a.m. ET, after the AI data center operator shared better-than-expected Q2 2026 results on Wednesday evening while saying it’s in “advanced discussions” to add a major hyperscaler client, with the potential for fresh leases to be signed early this year.

For the quarter ended November 30, 2025, Applied Digital posted revenues of $126.6 million, up 250% from the year before and some way ahead of the $84.1 million analysts had expected, per estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Profitability greatly improved too, with adjusted EBITDA of $20.2 million and adjusted net income coming in at $100,000 for the quarter.

Leasing deals with companies like CoreWeave, which has signed deals for facilities that represent approximately $11 billion in prospective (and now current) revenue, has boosted the business, with CFO Saidal Mohmand saying that the company has “one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry.”

This marked the quarter in which Applied Digital booked a $5 billion 15-year AI factory lease with a “US based investment grade hyperscaler.”

During the conference call, CEO Wes Cummins said that the company is in “advanced discussions” on three sites that represent 900 megawatts in total, with “another investment-grade hyperscaler across multiple regions.”

In a longer-term view, Applied Digital also indicated that it now expects to exceed its net operating income target of $1 billion in the next five years, per its press release:

“Applied Digital positioned itself early through strategic investments in purpose-built, next-generation data centers. Our initial hyperscaler customers are expected to expand within our existing campuses, while additional customers are anticipated across new sites. This strong demand across our campuses, together with our current expectation for additional leases leads us to expect that we will now exceed our $1 billion NOI target within the next five years.”

At the end of last year, Applied revealed plans to spin off its digital cloud computing business, combining it with EKSO to form ChronoScale Corporation, a compute platform purpose-built to support AI.

“Our view on the quarter was quite positive with the company talking up consistent strong customer demand, its execution track record so far, and near term lease possibilities alongside the longer term pipeline expansion opportunities,” wrote Needham analyst John Todaro, who has a “buy” rating and a $41 price target on the stock.

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AI “bottleneck” stocks are the big winners halfway through a tumultuous week

Memory stocks and chip machinery companies are bouncing Wednesday, following a strong Oracle earnings report that bolstered confidence in the durability of the AI data center build-out.

In fact, Sandisk is the top performer of the S&P 500 so far this week, rising more than 21% from Friday’s close, as of shortly after 2 p.m. ET. Memory chip maker Micron is second in line, up more than 13% in weekly gains, and hard disk drive maker Western Digital is also getting a lift.

Other big winners so far this week are some of the so-called semicap shares — makers of the ultraprecise machines that turn silicon into actual semiconductors — with Lam Research and KLA Corp both racking up gains of about 10% on the week. Applied Materials is up about 8% this week.

Thematically speaking, both memory stocks like Sandisk and Micron as well as semicap shares like KLA have been part of the “buy the bottleneck” trade, in which investors buy companies they believe sit at key pinch points in the AI supply chain and therefore have pretty tremendous pricing power. Through that lens, the stocks’ bounce might reflect some additional excitement about the durability of the data center boom after Oracle’s results, which included a larger-than-expected capex number as well as sales guidances that was higher than Wall Street was forecasting.

But the bounce also may be the less interesting market phenomenon of mean reversion rearing its head, as these stocks were also some of the most beaten down in the S&P 500 last week, when Sandisk lost 17% and Lam lost about 15%, for example. So, some snapback may merely be a market reflex.

Oracle jumps after Q3 results exceed expectations, boost to sales guidance

Oracle jumps after Q3 results exceed expectations, boost to sales guidance

Other big winners so far this week are some of the so-called semicap shares — makers of the ultraprecise machines that turn silicon into actual semiconductors — with Lam Research and KLA Corp both racking up gains of about 10% on the week. Applied Materials is up about 8% this week.

Thematically speaking, both memory stocks like Sandisk and Micron as well as semicap shares like KLA have been part of the “buy the bottleneck” trade, in which investors buy companies they believe sit at key pinch points in the AI supply chain and therefore have pretty tremendous pricing power. Through that lens, the stocks’ bounce might reflect some additional excitement about the durability of the data center boom after Oracle’s results, which included a larger-than-expected capex number as well as sales guidances that was higher than Wall Street was forecasting.

But the bounce also may be the less interesting market phenomenon of mean reversion rearing its head, as these stocks were also some of the most beaten down in the S&P 500 last week, when Sandisk lost 17% and Lam lost about 15%, for example. So, some snapback may merely be a market reflex.

markets
Max Knoblauch

Papa John’s spikes following report of a $47-per-share take-private offer from Qatari investment fund Irth Capital

A few weeks after announcing it would close 300 stores by the end of next year, Papa John’s is drawing fresh take-private interest from Irth Capital, an investment fund backed by a member of the Qatari royal family.

Papa John’s shares were up 19% on Wednesday afternoon, on pace for their best day since February 2025.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Irth is offering $47 per share for PZZA, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The fund currently holds a roughly 10% stake in Papa John’s, per the report.

Irth has tried to take Papa John’s private before, offering $60 per share in a joint bid with Apollo Global in June of last year. In October, Apollo Global again offered to take the company private at $64 per share. That offer was later withdrawn.

Broadly, the pizza category is being increasingly dominated by Domino’s, which opened 700 stores globally last year and has a market cap 9x greater than Irth’s latest reported offer for Papa John’s.

Exclusive | Papa John’s Draws Fresh Takeover Interest

Exclusive | Papa John’s Draws Fresh Takeover Interest

According to The Wall Street Journal, Irth is offering $47 per share for PZZA, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The fund currently holds a roughly 10% stake in Papa John’s, per the report.

Irth has tried to take Papa John’s private before, offering $60 per share in a joint bid with Apollo Global in June of last year. In October, Apollo Global again offered to take the company private at $64 per share. That offer was later withdrawn.

Broadly, the pizza category is being increasingly dominated by Domino’s, which opened 700 stores globally last year and has a market cap 9x greater than Irth’s latest reported offer for Papa John’s.

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How Oracle is de-risking its AI boom

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