What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after the major indices pulled back (Nasdaq -1.3%, S&P 500 -1.1%) as Israel carried out significant strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites, dramatically escalating fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East. This development has sent crude oil prices surging, as investors fear potential disruptions to global oil supply and a wider regional conflict. 

The conflict intensified market anxiety, compounding existing volatility, especially in risk assets like stocks, and prompting a pronounced shift toward safe-haven assets.

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:

• Consumer Subscription company Chegg (NYSE: CHGG) fell 7.1%. Is now the time to buy Chegg? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Apparel Retailer company Victoria's Secret (NYSE: VSCO) fell 6.4%. Is now the time to buy Victoria's Secret? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Renewable Energy company Blink Charging (NASDAQ: BLNK) fell 6.3%. Is now the time to buy Blink Charging? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Enterprise Networking company Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) fell 9.9%. Is now the time to buy Applied Digital? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Consumer Electronics company Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON) fell 5.4%. Is now the time to buy Peloton? 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 115 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 11 days ago when the stock gained 51% on the news that it signed two long-term lease agreements for artificial intelligence data centers with Nvidia-backed AI hyperscaler CoreWeave. 

APLD is expected to deliver 250 megawatts (MW) of power for CoreWeave's AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure at its North Dakota data center campus. 

The bigger takeaway is financial: across the 15-year term, these contracts are expected to generate about $7 billion in revenue, providing significant long-term financial visibility for Applied Digital. 

The stock's reaction suggested investors viewed the deals as both a reliable new stream of recurring income and a clear signal that Applied Digital is well positioned in the rapidly expanding AI-data-center space.

Applied Digital is up 43.3% since the beginning of the year, but at $11.18 per share, it is still trading 19.4% below its 52-week high of $13.86 from June 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Applied Digital’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $124,196.

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