Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Up 2.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) rose 2.4% on Tuesday after Northland Securities upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. Northland Securities now has a $120.00 price target on the stock. Applied Optoelectronics traded as high as $66.58 and last traded at $63.97. 10,898,946 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 4% from the average session volume of 10,452,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.50.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on AAOI. B. Riley Financial cut their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $109.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, CFO Stefan Murry sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.87, for a total value of $411,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 363,168 shares in the company, valued at $37,359,092.16. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Hung-Lun Chang sold 32,172 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.21, for a total value of $3,545,676.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 249,276 shares in the company, valued at $27,472,707.96. This represents a 11.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 52,172 shares of company stock valued at $5,985,036 over the last quarter. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 12,045 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,196,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Fund Resources Investment Holding Group Co Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 283.0% in the third quarter. Fund Resources Investment Holding Group Co Ltd now owns 191,441 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $19,002,000 after purchasing an additional 141,453 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 68.6% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 16,554 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,643,000 after purchasing an additional 6,734 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth about $877,000. Finally, Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth about $303,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 2.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.13. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.88. The company has a market capitalization of $5.41 billion, a PE ratio of -82.01 and a beta of 4.04.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.48 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 9.57% and a negative return on equity of 1.98%. Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.16) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Applied Optoelectronics

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc (NASDAQ: AAOI) develops and manufactures fiber-optic networking products and solutions. Its offerings include optical transceivers, transmitters, receivers, lasers, and related components used to transmit data across fiber-optic networks.

The company serves several communications markets, including data centers, broadband access networks, cable television, and telecommunications. Its products are designed for applications such as high-speed data transmission, fiber-to-the-home and other broadband deployments, network connectivity, and communications infrastructure.

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, Applied Optoelectronics supports customers in multiple regions, including North America, Asia, and other international markets.