Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. B. Riley Financial raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $103.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Applied Optoelectronics has a 1-year low of $9.71 and a 1-year high of $128.96. The company has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -159.86 and a beta of 3.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.85.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.13, for a total value of $2,903,770.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 82,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,277,046.19. The trade was a 25.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total transaction of $3,649,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 233,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,420,204.50. This trade represents a 13.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 326,333 shares of company stock worth $29,392,957. Insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.