Cynthia Delaney Sells 21,000 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Director Cynthia Delaney sold 21,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 116,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,392,080.44. This trade represents a 15.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

AAOI opened at $95.67 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.71 and a 1-year high of $114.63. The company has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -147.18 and a beta of 3.20. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $48.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.22. 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 (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business’s revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter worth about $1,375,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 167.6% during the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 24,771 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $864,000 after purchasing an additional 15,513 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,453,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.