Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Needham & Company LLC Analyst Says

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $43.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 5.02% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. B. Riley Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Northland Securities set a $45.00 target price on Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 56.9%

AAOI opened at $84.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -129.58 and a beta of 3.32. Applied Optoelectronics has a one year low of $9.71 and a one year high of $84.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.31.

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

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In related news, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $876,319.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,602,132.71. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $587,573.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 290,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,575,012.50. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 66,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,080,367 over the last ninety days. 4.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 497.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 962 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

More 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.