Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock Price Down 5.2% – Here’s Why

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)’s stock price was down 5.2% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $106.13 and last traded at $108.4190. Approximately 2,210,464 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 8,181,021 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.41.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $65.76 and a 200-day moving average of $42.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -153.65 and a beta of 3.20.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $134.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 8.39%.Applied Optoelectronics’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.10, for a total value of $4,855,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 322,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,271,152.10. The trade was a 13.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.76, for a total transaction of $451,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 280,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,580,693.20. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 326,333 shares of company stock worth $29,392,957 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. Comerica Bank grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 16,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc develops and manufactures high-speed fiber-optic networking products designed to support the growing bandwidth demands of data centers, telecommunications carriers and internet content providers. The company’s core offerings include pluggable optical transceiver modules, transponders and optical components that enable data transmission at rates ranging from 1G to 400G. These products are used to facilitate long-haul, metro and intra-data center connectivity, addressing the need for scalable, low-latency and energy-efficient solutions in modern network infrastructures.

The company’s product portfolio spans small-form factor pluggable modules such as SFP+, QSFP+ and QSFP28 units, as well as more advanced form factors like CFP2 and OSFP for ultra-high-speed applications.