30,812 Shares in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI Acquired by CenterBook Partners LP

Key Points

• CenterBook Partners LP disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in Applied Optoelectronics, buying 30,812 shares valued at about $1.07 million.
• Institutional interest in AAOI remains high, with 61.7% of the stock owned by institutions and hedge funds after several firms opened new positions in the company.
• Applied Optoelectronics has seen mixed signals: analysts currently rate it Hold on average, while recent insider selling and concerns about a CPO rollout delay have weighed on sentiment even as the stock has benefited from the AI infrastructure rally.

CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 30,812 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $1,074,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at $251,000. Havemeyer Place LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter worth $821,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter worth $160,000. 1492 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at $7,529,000. Finally, Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at $2,737,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAOI. 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 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 report on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. B. Riley Financial raised Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.80.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Optoelectronics

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Optoelectronics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Optical-networking and networking stocks are rallying as the AI infrastructure trade strengthens, helping lift AAOI alongside peers like Lumentum and Coherent. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Optoelectronics announced that Spectrum is deploying AOI’s QuantumLink remote management software across its connected 1.8GHz amplifier footprint, highlighting growing hardware-software adoption and a deeper customer relationship. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: AAOI also drew attention after a Zacks note said the stock trades at a premium valuation, with a forward price-to-sales ratio of 8.71x versus 6.62x for the broader sector, which may make some investors cautious. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling, including a June 5 sale by Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang, may be weighing on sentiment even though the insider still retains a large position. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: A separate report said AAOI led networking stocks lower following concerns about a delay in co-packaged optics (CPO) rollout, a potential headwind for near-term expectations. Article Title

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 7.5%

AAOI stock opened at $175.13 on Thursday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $160.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.38. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.29 and a 52-week high of $233.67. The firm has a market cap of $14.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -265.35 and a beta of 3.66.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. Applied Optoelectronics's revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider David C. Kuo sold 19,227 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $3,331,270.02. Following the transaction, the insider owned 197,370 shares in the company, valued at $34,196,326.20. This trade represents a 8.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total transaction of $10,705,687.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 59,647 shares in the company, valued at $11,287,001.81. This represents a 48.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 331,233 shares of company stock valued at $54,021,670. 3.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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