Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading Down 5.2% – What’s Next?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) dropped 5.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $106.13 and last traded at $108.4190. Approximately 2,210,464 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 8,181,021 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.41.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AAOI. Wall Street Zen raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 12.7%

The stock has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -153.65 and a beta of 3.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.76 and its 200 day moving average is $42.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

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

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 21,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.02, for a total value of $2,058,420.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 116,222 shares in the company, valued at $11,392,080.44. This represents a 15.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total transaction of $3,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 233,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,420,204.50. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 326,333 shares of company stock valued at $29,392,957 over the last three months. 4.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAOI. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.9% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $195,000 after buying an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 16,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

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.