Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 5,827,481 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the previous session’s volume of 7,307,755 shares.The stock last traded at $102.2850 and had previously closed at $106.19.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 9.6%

The stock has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -147.75 and a beta of 3.20. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $54.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.80.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Richard B. Black sold 3,231 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $306,945.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 164,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,614,485. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.76, for a total value of $451,040.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 280,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,580,693.20. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 273,433 shares of company stock valued at $23,341,962. Company insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,375,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,439,000 after acquiring an additional 3,446,150 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 167.6% during the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 24,771 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $864,000 after acquiring an additional 15,513 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter worth $1,453,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% 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.