Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $97.42, but opened at $101.20. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $94.9490, with a volume of 2,875,066 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 0.5%

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.93. The company has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -148.80 and a beta of 3.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.11. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The company had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.02) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,770.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 82,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,277,046.19. This trade represents a 25.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.76, for a total value of $451,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 280,070 shares in the company, valued at $31,580,693.20. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 326,333 shares of company stock valued at $29,392,957. 4.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,579 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,415 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 3,828.0% in the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,613 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,285,693 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $33,034,000 after purchasing an additional 203,830 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 38.1% during the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 12,225 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $377,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.