Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Given Market Perform Rating at Northland Securities

Northland Securities reissued their market perform rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) in a research report sent to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $55.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AAOI. 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. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

AAOI traded up $30.54 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $84.23. The company had a trading volume of 24,488,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,989,014. Applied Optoelectronics has a 12-month low of $9.71 and a 12-month high of $84.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.31. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.59. The stock has a market cap of $5.75 billion, a PE ratio of -129.58 and a beta of 3.32.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The business had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total transaction of $587,573.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 290,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,575,012.50. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total value of $876,319.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,663 shares in the company, valued at $5,602,132.71. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 66,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,080,367 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 167.6% during the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 24,771 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $864,000 after buying an additional 15,513 shares in the last quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter valued at about $254,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,453,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter worth about $358,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Applied Optoelectronics News

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.