Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 32,868 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 133% compared to the average volume of 14,111 call options.

Key Applied Optoelectronics News

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 Trading Down 5.4%

NASDAQ AAOI opened at $95.67 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics has a fifty-two week low of $9.71 and a fifty-two week high of $114.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.63. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.22. The stock has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -147.18 and a beta of 3.20.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 8.39%.The business had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.02) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 21,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.02, for a total value of $2,058,420.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 116,222 shares in the company, valued at $11,392,080.44. The trade was a 15.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $587,573.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 290,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,575,012.50. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 193,098 shares of company stock valued at $15,246,481 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position 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 valued at $122,439,000 after buying an additional 3,446,150 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew 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 buying an additional 2,188,630 shares in the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 875,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

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.