Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Down 7.5% – What’s Next?

16 May 2026, 08:09 by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat Gem

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report) shares traded down 7.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $208.71 and last traded at $206.3010. 2,020,838 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 9,736,743 shares. The stock had previously closed at $223.10.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. B. Riley Financial raised 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.80.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on AAOI

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $132.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.93. The stock has a market cap of $15.28 billion, a PE ratio of -288.42 and a beta of 3.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.83.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 8.55%.The business had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics’s quarterly revenue was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. Research analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, Director Elizabeth G. Loboa sold 102,347 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.76, for a total value of $9,800,748.72. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,965,282.48. The trade was a 83.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total value of $3,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 233,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,420,204.50. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 276,313 shares of company stock worth $27,360,465. 3.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. SummitTX Capital L.P. lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 29.0% in the first quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 9,408 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $796,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares during the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,174,000. Corsair Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the first quarter valued at approximately $677,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,817,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the first quarter valued at approximately $378,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Optoelectronics

(Get Free Report)

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.