Applied Digital’s revenue soars, loss widens on growing AI investments

Oct 7 (Reuters) – Applied Digital’s first-quarter revenue more than quadrupled, while its net loss widened from a year earlier as the company stepped up investments to meet growing demand for data center services.

Shares of the Dallas, Texas-based company, which develops and operates data centers to support AI and other high-performance computing tasks, were up nearly 2% in volatile extended trading on Wednesday.

Here are some details:

• Its first-quarter revenue surged to $341.9 million from $80.9 million a year earlier, surpassing analysts’ average estimate of $133.8 million, according to data compiled by LSEG

• Net loss attributable to common stockholders stood at $221.0 million, or $0.76 per share, compared with $18.5 million, or $0.07 per share, a year earlier

• As of August 31, Applied Digital had $3.7 billion in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, along with $6.4 billion in debt

• Total costs and expenses jumped to $404.3 million in the quarter, from $90.7 million a year earlier

• Applied Digital said costs rose due to higher spending to prepare data centers for customers, increased stock-based compensation and higher interest expenses as it expanded its AI infrastructure

• “We are building for the long term, with a clear focus on developing large-scale, sustainable AI factory campuses and securing durable, high-quality, long-term contracts with proven, tier-one, investment-grade hyperscalers that are leaders in the AI industry,” CEO Wes Cummins said in a statement

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)