Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading 6.5% Higher – Here’s Why

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) traded up 6.5% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $160.99 and last traded at $160.00. Approximately 9,585,600 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 10,740,532 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAOI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Three equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.40.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $13.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -201.79 and a beta of 3.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.13.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 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 company’s revenue was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $4,867,172.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 149,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,825,959.34. The trade was a 16.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.09, for a total value of $488,360.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 380,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,464,523.84. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 506,215 shares of company stock valued at $87,409,447 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 period. 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 valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. EFG International AG acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth $44,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter worth $48,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.