Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Up 11.2% – Time to Buy?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shot up 11.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $189.60 and last traded at $188.0550. 4,910,508 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average session volume of 10,387,596 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.05.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $15.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -292.78 and a beta of 3.66. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.48. 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) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The business had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.98 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. The firm’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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In related news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.45, for a total transaction of $685,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 447,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,793,483.70. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.07, for a total transaction of $2,050,700.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 452,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,779,820.10. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 298,833 shares of company stock valued at $51,058,370 in the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,579 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,415 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at approximately $377,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 36.0% during the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 50.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 60,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,562,000 after acquiring an additional 20,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at approximately $952,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

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.