Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Downgraded to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) from "hold" to "sell," while analysts remain split (3 Buy, 3 Hold, 1 Sell) with a consensus rating of Hold and a $52.80 target price.
• AAOI beat the quarter (EPS of -$0.01 vs. -$0.12 expected; revenue $134.27M, +33.9% YoY) but still shows negative margins and set Q1 guidance of -$0.09 to $0.00, with analysts forecasting -$1.18 EPS for the fiscal year.
• Shares are trading near recent highs (opened $150.60; 12‑month high $154.75) with a market cap of $11.32B and high volatility (beta 3.23), and insiders sold about 323,333 shares (~$29.3M) over the last quarter.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report issued on Monday.

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

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

AAOI stock opened at $150.60 on Monday. Applied Optoelectronics has a twelve month low of $9.71 and a twelve month high of $154.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $11.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -231.69 and a beta of 3.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.48.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) 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 return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 8.39%.The firm had revenue of $134.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $131.56 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction of $2,058,420.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 116,222 shares of the company's stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total value of $3,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 233,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,420,204.50. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 323,333 shares of company stock valued at $29,291,707 over the last quarter. Insiders own 4.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,579 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 2,415 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $377,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 36.0% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 50.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 60,817 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,562,000 after purchasing an additional 20,261 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at approximately $952,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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