Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading Up 9% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) were up 9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $125.73 and last traded at $124.7580. Approximately 1,930,620 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 10,557,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.44.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AAOI shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 5.7%

The business’s 50 day moving average is $165.96 and its 200 day moving average is $107.38. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -183.05 and a beta of 3.69.

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 company had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The company’s revenue was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 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 $5,717,580.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 451,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,297,233.56. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 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 directly owned 462,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,120,621.80. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold 500,215 shares of company stock valued at $86,716,414 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cinctive Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth $800,000. Diker Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $519,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the first quarter valued at about $4,125,000. Next Century Growth Investors LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,220,000. Finally, 1492 Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter worth about $7,529,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

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.