Investors Buy Large Volume of Applied Optoelectronics Call Options (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 35,172 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 33% compared to the typical daily volume of 26,420 call options.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of AAOI stock opened at $157.32 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. The company has a market capitalization of $12.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -242.03 and a beta of 3.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.59. Applied Optoelectronics has a one year low of $9.71 and a one year high of $157.40.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The business had revenue of $134.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAOI. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 27th. 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total value of $3,649,100.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 233,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,420,204.50. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Min-Chu (Mike) Chen sold 8,835 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.72, for a total transaction of $960,541.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 169,300 shares in the company, valued at $18,406,296. This trade represents a 4.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 326,333 shares of company stock worth $29,802,706. 4.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second 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.