Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Given New $125.00 Price Target at Rosenblatt Securities

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) had its price target raised by investment analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $50.00 to $125.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 52.44% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 52.7%

NASDAQ AAOI traded up $28.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $82.00. 21,112,273 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,524,961. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of -25.47 and a beta of 3.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Applied Optoelectronics has a 12 month low of $9.71 and a 12 month high of $82.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $876,319.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 111,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,602,132.71. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $587,573.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 290,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,575,012.50. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,080,367. 4.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong raised its holdings in 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 worth $36,197,000 after buying an additional 1,133,115 shares during the period. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth $5,040,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,283,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth $1,279,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,160,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,091,000 after purchasing an additional 435,349 shares in the last quarter. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Optoelectronics

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and strong top-line performance — AAOI reported Q4 EPS of ($0.01) versus consensus ($0.12) and revenue of $134.3M (up ~34% YoY), and management commentary/earnings call signaled robust demand, which triggered the rally. AAOI’s 10x Moment: $456M in 2025, $378M Per Month by Next Year
• Positive Sentiment: Official results and outlook — The company’s press release and filings reiterated the stronger revenue trajectory and provided a view that revenue momentum should continue, reinforcing investor confidence. Applied Optoelectronics Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst lift from Needham — Needham raised its price target to $80 and kept a “buy” rating, providing direct analyst support that likely helped push sentiment higher. Needham raises PT to $80
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 guidance is mixed — management guided Q1 revenue $150–$165M (above consensus ~$145.6M) but gave EPS guidance of -$0.09 to $0.00 versus a consensus of -$0.07; revenue strength is supportive while EPS range leaves some uncertainty. Q4 press release / guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: B. Riley upgraded the stock to “neutral” from “sell” and lifted its price target to $54 (upgrade signals reduced pessimism but the PT implies downside versus current levels). B. Riley upgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Some analyst targets remain well below current prices — Northland reaffirmed “market perform” with a $55 target, a reminder that not all analysts are convinced the rally is fully priced in and that downside risk is perceived by some. Finviz – Northland reaffirmation
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data appears noisy/insufficient — recent reports show anomalous zero-share short-interest figures, which are not reliable signals for current positioning. Market data / short interest

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.