Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Up 5.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shot up 5.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $114.39 and last traded at $112.9060. 2,577,742 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 8,739,835 shares. The stock had previously closed at $107.45.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAOI. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 10.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of -181.17 and a beta of 3.23. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.52.

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

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total value of $3,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 233,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,420,204.50. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 82,663 shares in the company, valued at $8,277,046.19. The trade was a 25.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 326,333 shares of company stock worth $29,392,957. Company insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,579 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $393,000 after buying an additional 2,415 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at $377,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 46.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 64,744 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after purchasing an additional 20,563 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 78,475 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after purchasing an additional 17,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. 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.