Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading 9.4% Higher – Time to Buy?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shares rose 9.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $115.05 and last traded at $115.3990. 3,584,316 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 10,483,783 shares. The stock had previously closed at $105.53.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAOI shares. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.40.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -147.59 and a beta of 3.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $116.45 and its 200-day moving average is $130.27.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.04. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 9.57% and a negative return on equity of 1.98%. The firm had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.16) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, CEO Chih-Hsiang Lin sold 59,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $9,825,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,302,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $216,894,667.08. This trade represents a 4.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider David Kuo sold 29,227 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $4,867,172.31. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 149,078 shares in the company, valued at $24,825,959.34. The trade was a 16.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 250,382 shares of company stock worth $41,373,027. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1.4% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. EFG International AG bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter valued at about $48,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Applied Optoelectronics

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.