Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Up 8.7% – Here’s Why

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shot up 8.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $179.03 and last traded at $178.6070. 3,877,061 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 9,291,248 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 27th. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 13.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $14.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -285.86 and a beta of 3.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $112.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.13.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.11. The business had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Elizabeth G. Loboa sold 102,347 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.76, for a total transaction of $9,800,748.72. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,965,282.48. This trade represents a 83.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total transaction of $3,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 233,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,420,204.50. This trade represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 314,333 shares of company stock valued at $29,262,106. Insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 27.6% during 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. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 7.9% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 16,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $560,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the period. 61.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.