Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock Price Up 17.8% – Time to Buy?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) traded up 17.8% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $89.32 and last traded at $90.1640. Approximately 3,189,974 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 10,363,205 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAOI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $145.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -136.38 and a beta of 3.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.03.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $151.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The business’s revenue was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 39,154 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $6,783,822.04. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 462,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,120,621.80. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total transaction of $10,705,687.25. Following the sale, the director directly owned 59,647 shares in the company, valued at $11,287,001.81. The trade was a 48.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 501,500 shares of company stock worth $86,812,999. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,125,000. Next Century Growth Investors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,220,000. Andar Capital Management HK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 1st quarter worth about $11,335,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 9.8% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 128,300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,853,000 after buying an additional 11,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 446,032 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $15,565,000 after buying an additional 20,077 shares during the period. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by 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.