Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $124.82, but opened at $109.13. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $103.9780, with a volume of 4,462,749 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAOI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, B. Riley Financial restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.40.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -140.52 and a beta of 3.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $127.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.42.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.04. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 9.57% and a negative return on equity of 1.98%. The business had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.16) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics’s quarterly revenue was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,227 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total transaction of $4,867,172.31. Following the transaction, the insider owned 149,078 shares in the company, valued at $24,825,959.34. This trade represents a 16.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $5,495,490.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 384,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,043,441.28. This represents a 7.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 329,204 shares of company stock worth $56,587,341. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 23.2% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 70,464 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,961,000 after buying an additional 13,265 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $7,719,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $955,672,000. Andar Capital Management HK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $11,335,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,125,000. Institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

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.