Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $158.41, but opened at $149.25. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $167.6540, with a volume of 3,380,159 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, May 8th. B. Riley Financial raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. 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, 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 research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 9.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $16.24 billion, a PE ratio of -306.62 and a beta of 3.66. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $148.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.26.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The firm had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.02) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. Analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In related news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.10, for a total transaction of $4,855,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 322,051 shares in the company, valued at $31,271,152.10. This trade represents a 13.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $5,717,580.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 451,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,297,233.56. This trade represents a 6.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 392,552 shares of company stock worth $57,915,469 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cinctive Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $800,000. Diker Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $519,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,624,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $119,915,000 after acquiring an additional 551,910 shares during the period. AI Squared Management Ltd purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,043,000. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter valued at about $235,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.