Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Up 6.5% – Time to Buy?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shares were up 6.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $37.40 and last traded at $36.7090. Approximately 1,697,563 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 4,486,124 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAOI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Northland Securities set a $45.00 target price on Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.60.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.84 and a beta of 3.26. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $118.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.77 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 36.97% and a negative return on equity of 7.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 82.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.21) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at -0.130–0.040 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In related news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 934 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $32,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 283,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,906,295. This represents a 0.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 12,500 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.15, for a total transaction of $501,875.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 130,948 shares in the company, valued at $5,257,562.20. This represents a 8.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 16,434 shares of company stock valued at $635,815 in the last quarter. 4.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $206,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter worth $11,057,000. Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,251,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 260.9% in the 3rd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 11,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 8,591 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at $19,738,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

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.