Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Price Target Raised to $80.00

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC from $43.00 to $80.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 49.00% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Northland Securities set a $45.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 7.6%

AAOI stock opened at $53.69 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics has a one year low of $9.71 and a one year high of $59.25. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.67 and a beta of 3.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total transaction of $587,573.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 290,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,575,012.50. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $876,319.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,663 shares in the company, valued at $5,602,132.71. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 66,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,080,367 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,439,000 after buying an additional 3,446,150 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $77,730,000 after acquiring an additional 2,188,630 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 410.7% in the second quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 1,408,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133,115 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% during the 4th quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,293,000 after purchasing an additional 875,903 shares during the last quarter. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Applied Optoelectronics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Optoelectronics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — AAOI reported EPS of ($0.01) vs. consensus ($0.12) and revenue of $134.3M (up 33.9% YoY), outperforming estimates. That beat is driving bullish investor response. GlobeNewswire Release
• Positive Sentiment: Company issued a stronger-than-expected revenue outlook for Q1 2026 — guidance of $150M–$165M vs. Street ~$145.6M — which supports the bullish case even though EPS guidance is wide. Market press noted the stock “surged” on the beat + outlook. Investing.com Surge Coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Conference call and official filings are available for details — useful for investors who want management commentary on demand trends and margin outlook. Earnings Call / Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest updates show a purported “significant increase” in February, but the published numbers are inconsistent/0 and appear unreliable — treat this data cautiously until corrected. (Note: days-to-cover and shares figures reported as 0/NaN.)
• Negative Sentiment: EPS guidance range for Q1 (‑$0.090 to $0.000) is weaker than consensus (‑$0.070), leaving room for disappointment on profitability even as revenue guidance was raised. MSN Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: AAOI was included in a list of “Stocks Investors Have Ditched,” reflecting some bearish sentiment/rotation risk among retail or thematic sellers that could pressure the name if momentum fades. InsiderMonkey Article

About Applied Optoelectronics

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.