Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Insider Sells $3,331,270.02 in Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) insider David Kuo sold 19,227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $3,331,270.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 197,370 shares in the company, valued at $34,196,326.20. This represents a 8.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock traded down $1.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $171.33. 8,941,358 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,914,948. The business has a 50-day moving average of $135.43 and a 200-day moving average of $73.08. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -259.59 and a beta of 3.76. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.06 and a 1 year high of $233.67.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The business had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Optoelectronics

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

• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 58,000 shares, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares, and other insiders also sold stock, but the company said the transactions were tied to tax withholding on equity award vesting.
• Neutral Sentiment: Applied Optoelectronics recently filed a prospectus supplement for a $600 million at-the-market stock offering, which raised investor concerns about potential dilution and added a near-term overhang.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive overall, with recent buy ratings and a bullish thesis tied to strong hyperscaler demand for AI optical infrastructure and expanding demand for 800G and 1.6T optics.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has also been hit by profit-taking after a sharp run-up, with market commentary noting that AAOI and other AI optics names are pulling back as investors lock in gains.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on AAOI shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.80.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the period. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $57,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.