Applied Optoelectronics’ (AAOI) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Rosenblatt Securities

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by Rosenblatt Securities in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $220.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target points to a potential upside of 77.11% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AAOI. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $135.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $124.22 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.02. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Applied Optoelectronics has a 12 month low of $18.50 and a 12 month high of $233.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -188.21 and a beta of 3.76.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.04. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The company had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.16) EPS. The firm’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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total value of $10,705,687.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 59,647 shares in the company, valued at $11,287,001.81. This trade represents a 48.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 59,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owned 1,302,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,894,667.08. This represents a 4.33% decrease in their position. 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 506,215 shares of company stock valued at $87,409,447 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,982,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $173,696,000 after acquiring an additional 358,090 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $122,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,446,150 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188,630 shares during the period. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,293,000 after purchasing an additional 875,903 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,775 shares in the last quarter. 61.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Applied Optoelectronics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Optoelectronics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AAOI reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.06 per share, above estimates of approximately $0.02-$0.03 and significantly better than the $0.16-per-share loss recorded a year earlier. Revenue rose 86.3% year over year to $191.92 million, modestly exceeding the $190.48 million consensus. Applied Optoelectronics Surpasses Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management expects demand for its optical networking products to exceed production capacity through at least mid-2027. This signals strong order visibility tied to AI infrastructure and data-center expansion, although it also highlights the need to increase manufacturing capacity. Applied Optoelectronics Beats Q2 Estimates and Expects Demand to Outpace Capacity
• Positive Sentiment: A potential Federal Communications Commission restriction on new Chinese optical-transceiver imports could benefit U.S.-based suppliers such as AAOI by redirecting demand toward domestic alternatives. The proposal remains uncertain and has not yet become final policy. Potential AI Infrastructure Bottleneck
• Neutral Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $255 million-$290 million brackets the $265.7 million analyst forecast, indicating continued rapid growth but a wide range around expectations. AAOI Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: AAOI forecast third-quarter EPS of $0.11-$0.26, below the $0.27 consensus estimate at the midpoint and upper end. That cautious profit outlook may outweigh the second-quarter beat, particularly because the company remains unprofitable on a GAAP basis.

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.