Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Sells 12,500 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL cut its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 12,500 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Applied Optoelectronics were worth $752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 60.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,160,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,091,000 after acquiring an additional 435,349 shares in the last quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,040,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,624,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $119,915,000 after purchasing an additional 551,910 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC now owns 21,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $545,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target 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 note on Saturday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.80.

Trending Headlines about Applied Optoelectronics

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

• Positive Sentiment: Company hit an all‑time high after announcing a new supply deal and capacity expansion to meet hyperscaler demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Received first volume order for 1.6T data‑center transceivers from a major hyperscaler — a direct demand and revenue catalyst if production ramps on schedule. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Market reports of a large transceiver order (~$200M) add near‑term revenue visibility and help justify a higher multiple while growth is proving out. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Reported solid Q4 results: revenue up ~34% YoY and gross‑margin improvement, supporting management’s 800G/1.6T ramp thesis. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and sector pieces highlight the AI/photonics thematic tailwind (800G/1.6T demand) that is lifting multiples, but emphasize that timing and execution determine how much revenue actually flows. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest filings appear noisy/zeroed in recent reports and don’t provide a clear bearish signal at this time (not a meaningful driver today).
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insider sales were disclosed this week (directors and the CFO sold shares), which can be interpreted as profit‑taking near current highs and may weigh on sentiment. SEC filing for one of the sales: Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts warn the stock has already rallied massively (700%+ YTD/year) — execution risk (capacity, product mix, hyperscaler order timing), rising costs and potential tariff exposure create downside risk if ramps or margins miss expectations. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Management’s Q1 guidance implies negative EPS, so the stock is priced for strong operational execution — any near‑term miss would likely prompt a sharp pullback.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 5.4%

AAOI opened at $127.01 on Thursday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.71 and a fifty-two week high of $128.96. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -195.40 and a beta of 3.20. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.32.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 50,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.10, for a total transaction of $4,855,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Elizabeth G. Loboa sold 102,347 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.76, for a total value of $9,800,748.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,965,282.48. This trade represents a 83.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 273,433 shares of company stock worth $23,341,962 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

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.