Royal Bank of Canada Acquires 122,088 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) by 2,075.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 127,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 122,088 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Applied Optoelectronics were worth $10,825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at $57,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Optoelectronics News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded expectations: Applied Optoelectronics reported adjusted EPS of $0.06 versus consensus estimates near $0.02–$0.03. Revenue reached approximately $191.9 million, ahead of estimates and up about 86% year over year from $103 million. Applied Optoelectronics Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Up Y/Y
• Positive Sentiment: AI datacenter demand is accelerating: Growth was driven by datacenter products, including rapidly expanding 800G optical transceivers. Management is also increasing capacity for 800G and 1.6T products, with demand reportedly exceeding available supply through at least mid-2027. AAOI Q2 Earnings Call Focuses on Capacity-Led 800G Ramp
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and industry momentum helped sentiment: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its “buy” rating and assigned a $220 price target. Photonics and optics companies also benefited from strong sector earnings and expectations that potential U.S. restrictions on Chinese optical-transceiver imports could reduce overseas competition. Benzinga analyst rating report
• Neutral Sentiment: Expansion is being limited by supply: Management said it could sell more products if it had greater manufacturing capacity. Component shortages are expected to constrain near-term growth, even as they demonstrate strong underlying demand. Applied Optoelectronics says it could sell more if it could make more
• Negative Sentiment: Q3 profit guidance disappointed: The company forecast EPS of $0.11–$0.26, below the roughly $0.27 analyst consensus, although projected revenue of $255 million–$290 million brackets consensus near $265.7 million. Analysts also flagged competition, a setback in 100G products and valuation concerns after the stock’s substantial rally. Applied Optoelectronics slides amid mixed Q2 results and guidance

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $135.63 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.50 and a 1-year high of $233.67. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $137.34 and a 200-day moving average of $118.14. The firm has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -173.88 and a beta of 3.76.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.48 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 2.52% and a negative net margin of 9.57%.The business’s revenue was up 86.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.16) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAOI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $151.00 price objective on Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total transaction of $10,705,687.25. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 59,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,287,001.81. The trade was a 48.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 39,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 462,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,120,621.80. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders sold 506,215 shares of company stock worth $87,409,447. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.