Elizabeth Loboa Sells 102,347 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Director Elizabeth Loboa sold 102,347 shares of Applied Optoelectronics 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,965,282.48. This represents a 83.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 5.4%

AAOI opened at $95.67 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $48.07 and a 200-day moving average of $35.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -147.18 and a beta of 3.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.71 and a 1-year high of $114.63.

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, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.11. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The business had revenue of $134.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. B. Riley Financial raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,446,150 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $77,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188,630 shares in the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong increased its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 410.7% during the 2nd quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 1,408,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,115 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,038,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 875,903 shares during the last quarter. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Optoelectronics

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Optoelectronics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional accumulation: multiple funds (Invesco, Price T. Rowe, Morgan Stanley and others) disclosed huge net purchases in Q4, signaling conviction from big investors and supplying upward pressure on the stock. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options flow: traders bought ~32,868 call options (≈133% above average daily call volume), which often accompanies bets on further upside and can amplify short‑term price moves. (Source: trading tape data)
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarterly beat: AAOI reported revenue and a slight EPS beat (Feb 26) with strong year‑over‑year revenue growth, which supports the bullish narrative despite conservative near‑term EPS guidance. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary on valuation vs. AI hype: a Yahoo Finance piece questions whether current pricing fully reflects AI‑infrastructure expectations — useful context but does not provide a clear directional catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Director Richard Black sold 3,231 shares (~$306.9k at ~$95/share), a small (1.93%) trim of his holding; insider selling can be perceived as profit‑taking. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Director Cynthia Delaney sold 21,000 shares (~$2.06M at ~$98.02/share), a 15.3% reduction of her stake — a larger signal of insider exit. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Director Elizabeth Loboa sold 102,347 shares (~$9.8M at ~$95.76/share), an 83.3% cut in her holding — the most significant insider sale and a potential near‑term headwind for sentiment. Read More.

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.