Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) insider David Kuo sold 19,227 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $3,331,270.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 197,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,196,326.20. The trade was a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.
Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $171.33 on Wednesday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.06 and a 52 week high of $233.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -259.59 and a beta of 3.76. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.08. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.
Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $156.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.02) earnings per share. 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. On average, analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, May 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $54.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.80.
View Our Latest Report on AAOI
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,982,660 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $173,696,000 after acquiring an additional 358,090 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $122,439,000 after acquiring an additional 3,446,150 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% during the fourth 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 stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% during the fourth 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 boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% during the fourth 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 during the period. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Trending Headlines about Applied Optoelectronics
Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Optoelectronics this week:
- Neutral Sentiment: CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 58,000 shares, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares, and other insiders also sold stock, but the company said the transactions were tied to tax withholding on equity award vesting.
- Neutral Sentiment: Applied Optoelectronics recently filed a prospectus supplement for a $600 million at-the-market stock offering, which raised investor concerns about potential dilution and added a near-term overhang.
- Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive overall, with recent buy ratings and a bullish thesis tied to strong hyperscaler demand for AI optical infrastructure and expanding demand for 800G and 1.6T optics.
- Negative Sentiment: The stock has also been hit by profit-taking after a sharp run-up, with market commentary noting that AAOI and other AI optics names are pulling back as investors lock in gains.
About Applied Optoelectronics
(
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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.
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