Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

AAOI opened at $84.23 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics has a twelve month low of $9.71 and a twelve month high of $84.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a PE ratio of -129.58 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $42.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.66.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The company had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 6.22%. Applied Optoelectronics’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,982,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $173,696,000 after acquiring an additional 358,090 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $122,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,446,150 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188,630 shares during the period. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,293,000 after purchasing an additional 875,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,775 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

More Applied Optoelectronics News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and revenue strength: AAOI reported a $0.01 loss per share vs. consensus -$0.12 and revenue of $134.3M, up ~34% year-over-year — both results topped estimates and underpinned the rally. MarketBeat earnings summary
• Positive Sentiment: Upside revenue guidance: Management raised Q1 2026 revenue guidance to $150M–$165M, above consensus, signaling continued demand — a key driver for investor optimism. GlobeNewswire press release
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish write-up highlighting large growth potential: 247WallStreet published a bullish piece framing AAOI as entering a “10x moment” with aggressive revenue projections that likely boosted speculative buying interest. AAOI’s 10x Moment
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade / target increase from Needham: Needham raised its price target to $80 and maintained a “buy” rating, lending institutional validation to the recent beat and outlook. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: EPS still a small loss despite beat: The company reported a small GAAP loss but beat the much larger consensus loss estimate — a mixed data point for profitability progress. Zacks
• Neutral Sentiment: Conference call and detailed release available for off-cycle color: Investors should review the earnings call transcript and press release for product, margin and backlog details that will determine sustainability of the beat. Earnings call (Yahoo)
• Negative Sentiment: Some analyst targets remain below current levels: Northland reaffirmed a “market perform” with a $55 target and B. Riley’s $54 target (despite an upgrade to neutral) both imply sizable downside from current prices — a restraint on further upside until fundamentals confirm sustainability. Finviz Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data appears inconsistent: Public short-interest reports in the feed show zero shares/NaN changes (likely data errors) — ignore until verified; actual short-covering could amplify moves but current data is unreliable.

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.