Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Upgraded at Northland Securities

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) was upgraded by investment analysts at Northland Securities from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The firm presently has a $120.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock. Northland Securities‘s target price points to a potential upside of 73.79% from the company’s previous close.

AAOI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.00.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $69.05 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $98.76 and a 200 day moving average of $112.74. Applied Optoelectronics has a 52 week low of $18.50 and a 52 week high of $233.67. The company has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a PE ratio of -88.53 and a beta of 4.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $191.92 million during 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%. The company’s revenue was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.16) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Hung-Lun Chang sold 32,172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.21, for a total transaction of $3,545,676.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 249,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,472,707.96. The trade was a 11.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan Murry sold 4,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 363,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,359,092.16. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 56,887 shares of company stock worth $6,581,484. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 70,464 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,961,000 after purchasing an additional 13,265 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,719,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $955,672,000. Capstone Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,101,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,712,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

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.