Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Down 10.1% – Here’s Why

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)’s stock price traded down 10.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $181.55 and last traded at $181.96. 6,308,764 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 9,961,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.37.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a research note 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 note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $16.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -307.41 and a beta of 3.66. 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 50-day moving average of $154.07 and a 200-day moving average of $85.95.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 58,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $10,049,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,255,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $390,821,369.18. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total value of $10,705,687.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 59,647 shares in the company, valued at $11,287,001.81. This trade represents a 48.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 395,068 shares of company stock worth $59,023,671 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 1st quarter valued at $723,000. BankChampaign National Association bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 1st quarter valued at $284,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 29,755 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,518,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $5,961,000 after buying an additional 13,265 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 2,075.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 127,971 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,825,000 after buying an additional 122,088 shares during the period. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.