Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading Down 8.6% – Time to Sell?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)’s stock price fell 8.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $29.92 and last traded at $30.2070. 2,563,920 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 4,590,489 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAOI. Wall Street Zen lowered Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $15.00 price target (up from $13.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Northland Securities set a $30.00 price target on Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.20.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a PE ratio of -8.66 and a beta of 2.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.35 and a 200 day moving average of $23.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.01. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 10.60% and a negative net margin of 42.29%.The firm had revenue of $118.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.77 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.21) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 82.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at -0.130–0.040 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.37, for a total transaction of $268,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 298,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,676,930.49. This trade represents a 3.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Min-Chu (Mike) Chen purchased 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $22.91 per share, with a total value of $171,825.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 22,500 shares in the company, valued at $515,475. This trade represents a 50.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 44,100 shares of company stock worth $1,000,878. 4.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,779,563 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $42,666,000 after acquiring an additional 350,145 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 410.7% during the 2nd quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 1,408,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133,115 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,285,693 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $33,034,000 after acquiring an additional 203,830 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 876,543 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,455,000 after acquiring an additional 115,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 620,281 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $15,935,000 after acquiring an additional 23,905 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Optoelectronics

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells fiber-optic networking products in the United States, Taiwan, and China. It offers optical modules, optical filters, lasers, laser components, subassemblies, transmitters and transceivers, turn-key equipment, headend, node, distribution equipment, and amplifiers.