Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC Takes $2.74 Million Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 78,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,737,000. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC owned 0.11% of Applied Optoelectronics at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth $21,392,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter worth $26,923,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth $19,738,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 13.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,624,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $119,915,000 after acquiring an additional 551,910 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 60.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,160,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,091,000 after acquiring an additional 435,349 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 6.3%

Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $158.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -240.02 and a beta of 3.76. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.06 and a fifty-two week high of $233.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $146.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.74.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. Analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total value of $10,705,687.25. Following the sale, the director owned 59,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,287,001.81. This represents a 48.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 39,154 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $6,783,822.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 462,430 shares in the company, valued at $80,120,621.80. This trade represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 515,899 shares of company stock valued at $69,774,638 in the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AAOI shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three investment 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.80.

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.