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

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $175.13, but opened at $167.56. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $173.8580, with a volume of 2,968,144 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAOI. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. 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. Rosenblatt Securities reissued 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 boosted their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Three research 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 data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.38. 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 stock has a market cap of $13.29 billion, a PE ratio of -251.28 and a beta of 3.66.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 39,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $6,783,822.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 462,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,120,621.80. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The sale 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 Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total value of $3,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 233,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,420,204.50. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 331,233 shares of company stock worth $54,021,670. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. NFSG Corp purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Comerica Bank purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% during the 4th 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. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Hedge funds and other 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.