Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading 11.7% Higher – Here’s Why

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shot up 11.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $92.69 and last traded at $94.4760. 3,172,146 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 8,368,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AAOI. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -137.07 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The company had revenue of $134.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 8.39%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.10, for a total value of $4,855,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 322,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,271,152.10. This represents a 13.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.76, for a total value of $451,040.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 280,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 326,333 shares of company stock worth $29,392,957. 4.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter worth $55,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 190.6% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,927 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares in the last quarter. 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.