Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Upgraded by B. Riley Financial to “Neutral” Rating

B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat reports. B. Riley Financial currently has $54.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $15.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Northland Securities set a $45.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 56.9%

Applied Optoelectronics stock traded up $30.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $84.23. The stock had a trading volume of 24,488,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,989,014. Applied Optoelectronics has a one year low of $9.71 and a one year high of $84.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $5.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -129.58 and a beta of 3.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.59.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.11. The company had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 6.22% and a negative net margin of 8.39%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $876,319.39. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 111,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,602,132.71. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $587,573.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 290,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,575,012.50. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,520 shares of company stock worth $3,080,367. Insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $173,696,000 after purchasing an additional 358,090 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised 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 valued at $122,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,446,150 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in 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 worth $77,730,000 after acquiring an additional 2,188,630 shares during the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP lifted its stake 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 worth $59,293,000 after purchasing an additional 875,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $59,257,000 after buying an additional 1,038,775 shares in the last quarter. 61.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Optoelectronics

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and revenue strength: AAOI reported a $0.01 loss per share vs. consensus -$0.12 and revenue of $134.3M, up ~34% year-over-year — both results topped estimates and underpinned the rally. MarketBeat earnings summary
• Positive Sentiment: Upside revenue guidance: Management raised Q1 2026 revenue guidance to $150M–$165M, above consensus, signaling continued demand — a key driver for investor optimism. GlobeNewswire press release
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish write-up highlighting large growth potential: 247WallStreet published a bullish piece framing AAOI as entering a “10x moment” with aggressive revenue projections that likely boosted speculative buying interest. AAOI’s 10x Moment
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade / target increase from Needham: Needham raised its price target to $80 and maintained a “buy” rating, lending institutional validation to the recent beat and outlook. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: EPS still a small loss despite beat: The company reported a small GAAP loss but beat the much larger consensus loss estimate — a mixed data point for profitability progress. Zacks
• Neutral Sentiment: Conference call and detailed release available for off-cycle color: Investors should review the earnings call transcript and press release for product, margin and backlog details that will determine sustainability of the beat. Earnings call (Yahoo)
• Negative Sentiment: Some analyst targets remain below current levels: Northland reaffirmed a “market perform” with a $55 target and B. Riley’s $54 target (despite an upgrade to neutral) both imply sizable downside from current prices — a restraint on further upside until fundamentals confirm sustainability. Finviz Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data appears inconsistent: Public short-interest reports in the feed show zero shares/NaN changes (likely data errors) — ignore until verified; actual short-covering could amplify moves but current data is unreliable.

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.