Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell
by Scott Moore · The Cerbat GemWall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI – Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Monday.
AAOI has been the topic of several other reports. 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. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.80.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Applied Optoelectronics
Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance
NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $153.19 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -235.68 and a beta of 3.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Applied Optoelectronics has a 1 year low of $9.71 and a 1 year high of $155.40.
Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $134.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 8.39%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics
In related news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.76, for a total transaction of $451,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 280,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,580,693.20. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,770.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 82,663 shares in the company, valued at $8,277,046.19. This trade represents a 25.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 322,399 shares of company stock valued at $29,259,017. 4.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics
Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,982,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $173,696,000 after buying an additional 358,090 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $122,439,000 after buying an additional 3,446,150 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,730,000 after acquiring an additional 2,188,630 shares during the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,293,000 after acquiring an additional 875,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,775 shares during the period. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
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.