Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock Price Up 6.2% – Should You Buy?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shares were up 6.2% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $130.42 and last traded at $129.1450. Approximately 5,670,762 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 10,200,799 shares. The stock had previously closed at $121.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAOI. Wall Street Zen raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. B. Riley Financial restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.40.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 6.3%

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $111.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.13. The stock has a market cap of $10.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -165.38 and a beta of 3.85.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Shu-Hua Yeh sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.73, for a total value of $886,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 377,498 shares in the company, valued at $55,767,779.54. The trade was a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Stefan Murry sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total value of $421,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 367,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,673,805.44. The trade was a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 52,172 shares of company stock valued at $6,092,409. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at $955,672,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the first quarter valued at $47,817,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at about $74,703,000. Next Century Growth Investors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at about $16,220,000. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter worth about $15,586,000. Institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Optoelectronics

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc (NASDAQ: AAOI) develops and manufactures fiber-optic networking products used to transmit data across broadband, data center, telecommunications and wireless networks. Its portfolio includes optical transceivers, modules, lasers, components and networking equipment designed for high-speed communications infrastructure.

The company serves communications service providers, cable television and broadband operators, internet content providers, data center operators and telecommunications customers.