Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Applied Optoelectronics shares jumped 6.3%, opening at $100.10 versus a prior close of $90.11, before later trading near $92.37.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: three analysts rate the stock Buy, two Hold and one Sell. The average rating is “Hold,” with an average price target of $141.80, though Needham recently lowered its target to $220 from $260.
• The company’s latest quarterly results missed expectations, reporting a $0.07-per-share loss and $151.14 million in revenue, although revenue increased 51.3% year over year. Insiders have sold approximately $86.8 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $90.11, but opened at $100.10. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $92.3650, with a volume of 3,227,969 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Applied Optoelectronics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 6.3%

The firm has a market cap of $7.68 billion, a PE ratio of -144.82 and a beta of 3.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.83. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $143.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $115.11.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 8.55%.Applied Optoelectronics's revenue was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total value of $10,705,687.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 59,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,287,001.81. This trade represents a 48.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 59,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $9,825,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,302,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $216,894,667.08. This represents a 4.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 501,500 shares of company stock worth $86,812,999 over the last 90 days. 3.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 1st quarter valued at $4,125,000. Next Century Growth Investors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth about $16,220,000. Andar Capital Management HK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 1st quarter worth about $11,335,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 128,300 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $10,853,000 after purchasing an additional 11,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 446,032 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $15,565,000 after purchasing an additional 20,077 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.70% of the company's stock.

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.

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