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

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) traded up 5.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $114.39 and last traded at $112.9060. 2,577,742 shares were traded 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

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

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $75.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.52. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of -181.17 and a beta of 3.23.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.56 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. On average, equities research 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 news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 280,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,580,693.20. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Min-Chu (Mike) Chen sold 8,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.72, for a total transaction of $960,541.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 169,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,406,296. This represents a 4.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 326,333 shares of company stock worth $29,392,957. 4.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. 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. lifted its position 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, WT Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,040,000. 61.70% of the stock is 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.