Applied Digital Corporation vs Ross Stores, Inc. — how do they compare? Applied Digital Corporation trades at $31.34 (market cap $8.37B), while Ross Stores, Inc. trades at $252.25 (market cap $81.74B). The key difference: Ross Stores, Inc. is far larger — about 9.8× Applied Digital Corporation's market cap, and Ross Stores, Inc. pays a 0.7% dividend while Applied Digital Corporation pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| APLD | ROST | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $8.37B | $81.74B |
Sector | Technology | Consumer Cyclical |
52-Week High | $49.65 | $255.23 |
52-Week Low | $13.89 | $144.67 |
Enterprise Value | $11.87B | $82.34B |
Dividend Yield | — | 0.7% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Applied Digital (APLD) trades at $29.22, up 1.25% with bearish technical signals despite unanimous analyst buy ratings. The company shows explosive revenue growth with Q4 2026 revenue surging 407% to $258.7M but continues posting significant losses with negative profit margins. Recent news highlights $36 billion in contracted AI infrastructure revenue and insider selling activity.
While analyst consensus targets $72.36 (147% upside), the stock faces execution risks from massive capital expenditures, negative cash flow, and challenging profitability metrics. The AI infrastructure build-out offers substantial growth potential but requires careful monitoring of financing needs and construction timelines.
Ross Stores (ROST) trades at $255.23, up 0.36% on the day, near its consensus price target of $259. The stock shows strong momentum with a bullish technical signal and consistent earnings beats, including Q1 2026 EPS of $2.02 versus $1.73 expected. Revenue growth accelerated to $21.13B in 2025, with net income margin improving to 9.74%. Recent expansion includes 47 new stores opened in June-July 2026, supporting future growth.
Outlook remains positive given robust fundamentals and analyst optimism, but valuation multiples like P/E of 35.65 suggest premium pricing. Key risks include consumer spending sensitivity and competitive pressures in discount retail. The stock offers growth potential with disciplined execution, though investors should weigh high valuation against earnings sustainability.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Applied Digital provides high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure and cloud services. It designs and operates data centers tailored for AI, machine learning, and other intensive digital workloads across North America.
Read more on APLD →Ross Stores is a leading American off-price apparel and home fashion retailer, operating over 1,920 stores (at the end of fiscal 2021) across the Ross Dress for Less and dd's Discounts banners. Ross offers a variety of name-brand products and targets undercutting conventional retailers' regular prices by 20%-70%. The company uses an opportunistic, flexible merchandising approach
Read more on ROST →