Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Up 7.9% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shot up 7.9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $175.07 and last traded at $178.3210. 1,716,336 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 9,773,253 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, May 8th. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $138.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.74. The firm has a market cap of $14.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -274.98 and a beta of 3.76. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 8.55%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In related news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 33,630 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $5,826,733.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 391,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,874,605. This trade represents a 7.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 39,154 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $6,783,822.04. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 459,324 shares of company stock worth $59,068,951 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 16,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

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.