Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 11, 2026
Applied Digital Corp. (APLD)
A forensic read on Applied Digital Corp. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
3.4
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
6
Forensic signals
-32.0
P / E (ttm)
-10.9%
ROE
$8.6B
Market cap
0.09%
Dividend yield
167.5%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Applied Digital Corp. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.4, placing it in the Safe zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+113.9%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +113.9% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash; Richardson/Sloan link high accruals to weaker future returns as they reverse. The build is led by receivables up +724% against revenue +167% and PP&E up +238% against revenue +167%. This is the third straight fiscal year of building accruals — a multi-year streak is a materially stronger tell than a single year's move. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 20% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
-2.6%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -2.6% in the latest fiscal year and rising from -28% — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
stopped
FY2025→FY2026
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $31M of buybacks + dividends in FY2025, but ~$0 in FY2026. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
19d DSO
FY2025→FY2026
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 9 to 19 days FY2025→FY2026 (receivables +724% vs revenue +167%). Across FY2023–FY2026 the day count ran 1 → 4 → 9 → 19 days — the latest step continues a climb that was already under way, which is the persistence that separates a collection problem from a busy quarter. Receivables grew, but deferred revenue grew +30% over the same period too — rising alongside rising unearned revenue reads as upfront billing on multi-period contracts, not slipping collections.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$611.3M
Revenue Growth YoY+167.5%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+122.6%
Net Margin-30.6%
Free Cash Flow-$2.78B
Return on Equity-10.9%
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Applied Digital Corp.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?
Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 11, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.
n/m (stock split)
FY2023–FY2026
Share count (stock split).Diluted share count changed +193% over the last 3 years to FY2026, but that includes a large one-time change around FY2025 consistent with a stock split or reverse split, not gradual buybacks or issuance — a split changes the count with NO effect on any holder's proportional ownership, so the raw +43.1%/yr figure isn't a real buyback/dilution read here.
36% of rev
FY2026
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 36% of revenue in FY2026 — about $0.80 per diluted share. The cost of it is not in the cash flow — no cash left the business — it is in the count, and there it has run at about 40.9% a year and is falling.
Applied Digital Corp. (APLD) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy