What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after investors took some profits off the table as markets awaited signals on future monetary policy from the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium later in the week.
The downturn in the market was largely attributed to a significant sell-off in megacap tech and chipmaker shares. Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Broadcom all saw notable drops, dragging down the VanEck Semiconductor ETF. Other major tech-related companies like Tesla, Meta Platforms, and Netflix were also under pressure. A key reason for this trend is that much of the recent market gains have been concentrated in the "AI trade," which includes these large technology and semiconductor companies. So this could also mean that some investors are locking in some gains ahead of more definitive feedback from the Fed.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Specialized Technology company Mirion (NYSE: MIR) fell 3.7%. Is now the time to buy Mirion? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Electronic Components & Manufacturing company Jabil (NYSE: JBL) fell 5%. Is now the time to buy Jabil? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Data & Business Process Services company Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) fell 4.9%. Is now the time to buy Planet Labs? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Electronic Components & Manufacturing company TTM Technologies (NASDAQ: TTMI) fell 4.3%. Is now the time to buy TTM Technologies? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Enterprise Networking company Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) fell 8.1%. Is now the time to buy Applied Digital? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Applied Digital (APLD)
Applied Digital’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 102 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 1 day ago when the stock gained 15.6% on the news that the company announced plans for a new $3 billion AI data center campus and received a significant price target increase from analysts. The company announced it plans to break ground in September 2025 on Polaris Forge 2, a $3 billion, 280-megawatt AI data center campus in North Dakota. This new facility is designed to support the increasing demand for high-performance computing and is expected to begin initial operations in 2026, reaching full capacity by early 2027. This ambitious expansion underscores the company's aggressive push into the AI infrastructure space. Adding to the positive sentiment, Craig-Hallum raised its price target on Applied Digital to $23 from $12, maintaining a Buy rating. The firm noted that recent private transactions in the datacenter sector suggest the company's stock was undervalued. Other analysts also expressed bullish views, with Lake Street and Roth Capital raising their price targets to $18 and $24, respectively.
Applied Digital is up 98.7% since the beginning of the year, and at $15.49 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $16.34 from August 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Applied Digital’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $129,126.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. While Nvidia and AMD are trading close to all-time highs, we prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) semiconductor stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report on our favorite semiconductor growth story.
