Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) gapped up before the market opened on Monday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a hold rating. The stock had previously closed at $84.23, but opened at $107.55. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $96.2680, with a volume of 10,598,066 shares.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. B. Riley Financial raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.80.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $876,319.39. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,602,132.71. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $587,573.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 290,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,575,012.50. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,080,367. 4.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its stake in 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 valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a PE ratio of -146.43 and a beta of 3.19.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.11. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The business had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.02) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 year.

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.