Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Releases Q3 2026 Earnings Guidance

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) updated its third quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 0.110-0.260 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 0.270. The company issued revenue guidance of $255.0 million-$290.0 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $265.7 million.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AAOI. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Raymond James Financial set a $151.00 price target on Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.00.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 9.2%

NASDAQ AAOI opened at $135.63 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $137.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.14. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Applied Optoelectronics has a 52 week low of $18.50 and a 52 week high of $233.67. The company has a market capitalization of $10.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -173.88 and a beta of 3.76.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $191.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.48 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 2.52% and a negative net margin of 9.57%.The firm’s revenue was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.16) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 59,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total transaction of $9,825,270.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,302,436 shares in the company, valued at $216,894,667.08. This trade represents a 4.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total transaction of $10,705,687.25. Following the sale, the director owned 59,647 shares in the company, valued at $11,287,001.81. The trade was a 48.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 506,215 shares of company stock valued at $87,409,447. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Applied Optoelectronics

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded expectations: Applied Optoelectronics reported adjusted EPS of $0.06 versus consensus estimates near $0.02–$0.03. Revenue reached approximately $191.9 million, ahead of estimates and up about 86% year over year from $103 million. Applied Optoelectronics Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Up Y/Y
• Positive Sentiment: AI datacenter demand is accelerating: Growth was driven by datacenter products, including rapidly expanding 800G optical transceivers. Management is also increasing capacity for 800G and 1.6T products, with demand reportedly exceeding available supply through at least mid-2027. AAOI Q2 Earnings Call Focuses on Capacity-Led 800G Ramp
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and industry momentum helped sentiment: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its “buy” rating and assigned a $220 price target. Photonics and optics companies also benefited from strong sector earnings and expectations that potential U.S. restrictions on Chinese optical-transceiver imports could reduce overseas competition. Benzinga analyst rating report
• Neutral Sentiment: Expansion is being limited by supply: Management said it could sell more products if it had greater manufacturing capacity. Component shortages are expected to constrain near-term growth, even as they demonstrate strong underlying demand. Applied Optoelectronics says it could sell more if it could make more
• Negative Sentiment: Q3 profit guidance disappointed: The company forecast EPS of $0.11–$0.26, below the roughly $0.27 analyst consensus, although projected revenue of $255 million–$290 million brackets consensus near $265.7 million. Analysts also flagged competition, a setback in 100G products and valuation concerns after the stock’s substantial rally. Applied Optoelectronics slides amid mixed Q2 results and guidance

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,439,000 after acquiring an additional 3,446,150 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 167.6% during the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 24,771 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $864,000 after purchasing an additional 15,513 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,453,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $358,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by 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.