Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Hits New 52-Week High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Applied Optoelectronics shares hit a new 52-week high at $162.34, yet Wall Street consensus is mixed with an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.80.
• The company beat quarterly estimates (EPS of -$0.01 vs. -$0.12; revenue $134.27M, up 33.9% YoY), but provided negative Q1 guidance (-$0.090 to $0.000) and still reports negative profitability metrics (PE -242, negative net margin).
• Insiders have sold heavily—326,333 shares (~$29.8M) in the last 90 days—while major institutions like Vanguard, Invesco, Price T. Rowe and Morgan Stanley materially increased stakes, with ~61.7% of the stock held by hedge funds and other institutions.

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $162.34 and last traded at $154.1250, with a volume of 1621904 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $159.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $54.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 1.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $93.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.43 billion, a PE ratio of -242.00 and a beta of 3.23.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 8.39%.The business's revenue was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 233,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,420,204.50. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 82,663 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,277,046.19. This trade represents a 25.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 326,333 shares of company stock valued at $29,802,706. Insiders own 4.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,982,660 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $173,696,000 after acquiring an additional 358,090 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew 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 worth $122,439,000 after acquiring an additional 3,446,150 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $77,730,000 after acquiring an additional 2,188,630 shares during the period. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP grew its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $59,293,000 after acquiring an additional 875,903 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $59,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,775 shares during the period. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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