Applied Digital (APLD -0.59%) stock had its initial public offering (IPO) in April 2022, although the company was known as Applied Blockchain at the time of its public debut. The company's share price has seen some big swings in the intervening years, but it has also delivered big wins for patient investors.
Applied Digital stock closed out its first day of trading after its IPO priced at $4.85 per share. A purchase of 100 shares at that price would have been equivalent to an investment of $485.
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Compared to Applied Digital's stock price at market close on the day of its public debut, the company's share price is now up roughly 205%. That means that an investor who purchased 100 shares of the company's stock at its IPO would now be sitting on a position worth roughly $1,480. Read on for a closer look at the data center specialist's big performance drivers across the stretch and what's on the horizon for the business.
How did Applied Digital stock deliver big gains -- and what comes next?
Applied Digital got its start as a company that was focused on blockchain and cryptocurrency mining operations. Luckily for the company, the key graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware that is useful for mining cryptocurrencies is also at the heart of processing for artificial intelligence (AI) model training.
With the AI revolution gaining steam in recent years, Applied Digital stock has seen a strong uptick in bullish momentum. Applied Digital stock also saw big gains in November 2024 in conjunction with news that Nvidia had taken an investment position in the company. While the company's share price has seen high levels of volatility since its public debut, shares are up roughly 282% over the last year of trading.
Applied Digital stock has recently seen big gains thanks to news that CoreWeave has opted to exercise an option that it had to expand data center licensing through the company. With CoreWeave ramping up its data center utilization, Applied Digital's growth outlook has become much stronger.
