Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Insider David Kuo Sells 19,227 Shares of Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) insider David Kuo sold 19,227 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $3,331,270.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 197,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,196,326.20. This trade represents a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAOI opened at $171.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $135.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.03. The stock has a market cap of $13.75 billion, a PE ratio of -259.59 and a beta of 3.76. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.06 and a 1 year high of $233.67.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 8.55%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAOI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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. Wall Street Zen cut Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. B. Riley Financial upgraded 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics News Summary

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

• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 58,000 shares, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares, and other insiders also sold stock, but the company said the transactions were tied to tax withholding on equity award vesting.
• Neutral Sentiment: Applied Optoelectronics recently filed a prospectus supplement for a $600 million at-the-market stock offering, which raised investor concerns about potential dilution and added a near-term overhang.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive overall, with recent buy ratings and a bullish thesis tied to strong hyperscaler demand for AI optical infrastructure and expanding demand for 800G and 1.6T optics.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has also been hit by profit-taking after a sharp run-up, with market commentary noting that AAOI and other AI optics names are pulling back as investors lock in gains.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.