Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Earns “Market Perform” Rating from Northland Securities

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Northland Securities in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $55.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock. Northland Securities’ price target indicates a potential downside of 34.70% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. B. Riley Financial raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 56.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $84.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market cap of $5.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -129.58 and a beta of 3.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.16 and a 200-day moving average of $32.66. Applied Optoelectronics has a one year low of $9.71 and a one year high of $84.31.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 6.22%. The firm had revenue of $134.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.56 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.02) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total transaction of $587,573.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 290,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,575,012.50. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total value of $876,319.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 111,663 shares in the company, valued at $5,602,132.71. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $122,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,446,150 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised 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 purchasing an additional 2,188,630 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 410.7% in the second quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 1,408,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,115 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $59,257,000 after buying an additional 1,038,775 shares during the period. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $59,293,000 after buying an additional 875,903 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

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.

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.