Hsbc Holdings PLC Takes Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 29,485 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,302,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 1.4% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted 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 acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. EFG International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at about $48,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAOI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.40.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 6.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $106.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.50 and a 52-week high of $233.67. The stock has a market cap of $8.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.19 and a beta of 3.76. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $121.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.24.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.04. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 1.98% and a negative net margin of 9.57%.The firm had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.16) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total transaction of $4,867,172.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 149,078 shares in the company, valued at $24,825,959.34. The trade was a 16.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 40,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.60, for a total transaction of $6,880,127.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 286,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,812,754.40. This represents a 12.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 272,629 shares of company stock worth $45,881,654. Company insiders own 3.80% 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.